532 Cook : A Synopsis of the 



much longer then the leaves, while the trunk and leaves are much 

 shorter and thicker than in Sabal mauritiiformis a native of Trini- 

 dad and Venezuela which appears from Karsten's figure, repro- 

 duced in the Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien, to have neither the leaves 

 nor the habit of an I nodes though there is no other genus to 

 which it can be referred with greater propriety. The diameter of 

 the trunk of the Trinidad palm described as vS. mauritiiformis is 

 given as from 1 2 to 1 5 inches, while /. causiariun is often two feet 

 or more thick. 



From the Florida palmetto, Inodes Palmetto ( Corypha Pal- 



metto Walter, Fl. Carol. 1 19. 1788) the Puerto Rico species differs 

 most conspicuously in not retaining the old leaf-bases which give 

 the trunk of the Florida palm so rough an appearance. The 

 cause of this difference is doubtless to be found in the fact that 

 as with most other palms the trunk of /. Palmetto grows to full 

 size while the surrounding leaf-bases are still alive, but 



in 



the West Indian species the trunk tapers greatly, especially in 

 young trees, and the leaf-bases are torn away by its gradual en- 

 largement to full diameter. The existence in southern Florida of 

 an /nodes having this last characteristic is a fact of much interest 

 recently brought to my attention by Mr. E. A. Schwarz, of the U. 

 S. Department of Agriculture. The specific distinctness of this 

 palm was impressed upon Mr. Schwarz, not only by its naked 

 trunk, different habit, and smaller size (5 m., instead of 10 to 20 m.), 

 but also by the possession of a distinctly tropical insect fauna, 

 quite different from that of the more northern palmetto with which 

 he had previously been familiar.* 



This new Florida species it gives me pleasure to name Inodes 

 Schwarzii in honor of its discoverer, in whose opinion of its dis- 

 tinctness I have great confidence, although he makes no claims 

 to botanical skill. It is confined, as far as observed by Mr. 

 Schwarz, to the coral reef formation of southern Florida, the 

 most accessible station visited being: about one mile south o( Co- 



Of numerous insects distinctive of the more southern palmetto the most conspic- 

 uous is a longicorn beetle, Agallissus chamaeropis Horn, the larvae of which bore in 

 the leaf-bases. The more common Inodes is inhabited by the allied genus Zagytntius, 

 though another species of Agallissus is reported from Texas, where the native Inodes 

 is of the smooth-trunked type. 



