Scientific Intelligence — Botany. 383 



cent fungus, belonging to the genus AgarictiSf and was told that it 

 grew abundantly in the neighbourhood, on the decaying leaves of a 

 dwarf palm. Next day I obtained a great many specimens, and 

 found them to vary from 1 to 2^ inches across. The whole plant 

 gives out at night a bright phosphorescent light, of a pale greenish 

 hue, similar to that emitted by the larger fire-flies, or by those 

 curious soft -bodied marine animals, the PyrosonuB. From this 

 circumstance, and from growing on a palm, it is called by the in- 

 habitants *• Flor de Coco." The light given out by a few of these 

 fungi, in a dark room, was sufficient to read by. It proved to be 

 quite a new species ; and since my return from Brazil, has been 

 described by the Rev. Mr Berkeley, under the name of Agaricus 

 Gardnerij from preserved specimens which I have brought home. 

 I had already named it A. phosphor escenSy not being aware at the 

 time I discovered it that any other species of the same genus exhi- 

 bited a similar phenomenon ; such, however, is the case in the Aga- 

 ricus Olearius of De CandoUe ; and Mr Drummond, of the Swan 

 River Colony, in Australia, has given an account of a very large 

 phosphorescent species, occasionally found there.* — (Gardner^s 

 Travels in the Interior of Brazil ^ p. 346.) 



20. The Chirimoya (Anona tripetala), the most delicious of 

 fruits. — Of tropical fruits, the number is not so great in Peru as in 

 the more northerly district of Guayaquil. But there are some Pe- 

 ruvian fruits, the delicious flavour of which cannot be excelled. One 

 of these is the Chirimoya [Anona tripetala). Hanke, in one of his 

 letters calls it " a master-work of nature." It would certainly be 

 difficult to name any fruit possessing a more exquisite flavour. 



In Lima the chirimoya is comparatively small, often only the 

 size of an orange. Those who have tasted it only in Lima, can 

 form but a very imperfect idea of its excellence. In Huanuco, its 

 indigenous soil, it grows in the greatest perfection, and often attains 

 the weight of sixteen pounds and upwards. The fruit is of roundish 

 form, sometimes pyramidal or heart-shaped, the broad base uniting 

 with the stem. Externally it is green, covered with small knobs 

 and scales, and often has black markings like net- work spread over 

 it. When the fruit is very ripe, it has black spots. The skin is 

 rather thick and tough. Internally the fruit is snow-white and 

 juicy, and provided with a number of small seeds, well covered with 

 a delicate substance. The chirimoyas of Huanuco are also distin- 

 guished from those of the coast by having only from four to six 

 seeds ; whereas, on the coast they are found with from twenty-five 

 to thirty. The question as to what the taste of this fruit may be 

 compared with, I can only answer by saying, that it is incomparable. 

 Both the fruit and flowei-s of the chirimoya emit a fine fragrance, 



* Hooker, Journal of Bet., vol. i., p. 215. 



