622 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
QUESTION OF NATIVITY. 
Obviously, the pollination problem needs to be investigated in 
the forests of tropical America rather than in Java or elsewhere in the 
East Indies. The identity of the insect visitors and the true meaning 
of the floral and other specializations can hardly be determined 
satisfactorily until the trees can be studied in their native habitats,: 
which are still to be ascertained. The present wide distribution of 
cacao and patashte, from Mexico to Brazil, is probably due to human 
agency. The patashte tree was described originally from Colombia, 
and is said to grow wild in the Amazon Valley. The cultivation of 
cacao extends along the eastern slopes of the Andes into southern 
Peru and Bolivia, but in these countries is not supposed to be ancient. 
There appears to be no native name for cacao in the Quichua lan- 
guage. Nevertheless, one of the varieties of cacao cultivated about 
Santa Ana in the lower Urubamba Valley in the Department of 
Cuzco is known as “cacao chuncho,”’ or cacao of the forest Indians, 
from whom it is supposed to have come. 
It does not seem reasonable to believe that trees with such habits 
would attain extensive distributions through natural agencies. In 
Guatemala it is supposed that both the cacao and patashte grow 
wild in the woods, but the trees occur only sparingly and perhaps 
only in districts that were formerly occupied by the Indians. On 
the peninsula of Nicoya, on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, wild cacao 
is more abundant, but still in places that may have been cleared and 
cultivated by the Indians a few generations ago. 
ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENT HABITS. 
The behavior of the patashte at Trece Aguas would seem to indicate 
that this tree has habits very different from those of the true cacao. 
It appears to be much less tolerant of shade and better adapted for 
growing long uprights every year and thus keeping above the sur- 
rounding vegetation. The flowers and fruits are carried up to the 
light on the new growth, instead of being borne on the old wood 
down. in the deep shade. As might be inferred from these habits of 
growth, the lateral branches seem to be of a temporary nature and 
apparently live only a few years, producing a few annual crops of 
flowers, like the lateral branches of coffee. The lateral branches 
lose their functions as soon as they are covered by new vegetation 
above. Thus, while the tree might become very tall if growing in 
the forest, it would probably have only a small crown of a few 
branches alive at any one time. The trunk would serve only as the 
support of the few branches and would probably remain very slender. 
But in open places with favorable soil conditions a more spreading 
