164 DB- K. SPBUCE O'S [Attalea, 



ramosi, fructu penduli ; ^je^wwca/Zws 2^-pedalis decurvus subteres, cir- 

 cumferentia 7-pollicari ; rami sub 100, polystichi conferti subcom- 

 pressi flexuosi 7-pollicares, flores 5 sub 11 solitarios sessiles gerentes, 

 apice solo sesquipollicari flores (J sub 10 confertos* proferentes, 

 Spatha simplex maxima, 7|-pedalis, circumferentia 16-pollicari, 



lignescens, fusiformis, basi in vaginam bipedalem, apice in rostrum 

 compressum pedale attenuata, dorso plurisulca, antice rimosa. 

 Flores S minute tribracteolati, in meo specimine fructifero jam decisi, 

 Fl. 5 : hracteolm G^ biseriatae, 3 exteriores minutfe triangulares j trium 

 interiorum intima major reniformis apiculata duplo latior quam 

 longa (4^x2-linearis), cJBterse duse parvse saepe in unam bicuspida- 

 tam coalitse. Sepala 3, 9 lineas longa 8-9 lin. lata, erecta cxasse co- 

 riacea cordato-triangularia concava imbricata. Petala 3, coriacea, 

 oblato-cordata v. reniformia, apiculata, 7x9^-lineari. Lrceohis hy- 

 pogynus liber, 3 lineas altus; ore obsolete 6-angularis petalis tenuior. 

 Drupce sub 1000 cuj usque spadicis maturatse, 2 pollices longre, 1-1 i 

 poll, latfe, ovales v. ovali-oblongae saepius pressione mutua subpris- 

 maticse, styli basi conica 4-lineari persistente rostratae. Fpicarpium 

 fuscescens decidue leprosum minute striatum, Mesocarpium 3 linear* 

 crassum, e laminis fibrosis, exterioribus mollioribus separabilibus, in- 

 terioribus in massam ligneam concretis, constans. Endocarpmm f 

 lineae crassuni, osseum nigreseens, mesocarpio adnatum, supra basin 

 3-foramiuatum, 1-2-loculare, loculis in drupa nondum maturata 

 vacuis. 



This uoble but not very lofty Palm is the one mentioned by 

 Humboldt in the following terms : " Nature has lavished every 

 beauty of form on the Jagua Palm*, which, intermingled with the 

 Cocurito or Vadgihai (80 to 100 feet high), adorns the cataracts of 

 Atures and Maypures, and is occasionally found also on the lonely 

 "banks of the Casiquiari. The smooth slender stems of the Jagua, 

 rising to between 60 and 70 feet, appear above the dense mass of 

 foliage of other kinds of trees, from amidst which they spring like 

 raised colonnades, their airy summits contrasting beautifully with 

 the thickly-leaved species of Ceihaj and with the forest of Lau- 



* The correct Spanish orthography is " Yagua." In " Jagua," as Humboldt 

 writes the name, his ** j " has the German sound, viz. that of our ** y." That 

 great traveller was not uniform in his orthography of native Venezuelan names, 

 sometimes writing them according to the Spanish, and at others to the German, 



In one case he mixes the two modes in a single word, viz. 



sound of the letters. In one . 

 in '* Cheruvichahena," the na 

 in Spanieh is ** Jerubichajena. 



correct orthography 



19 



Maxim 



