Section of Zoology and Botany. 501 



ing written a number of letters with it to Europe, which are conse- 

 quently not in my possession. 



6. Should the Huelosochil, mentioned by Mr. Hamilton in his 

 letter, be the Yoloxochitl of Hernandez, I can pronounce it to be 

 the Talauma Mexicana of Jussieu. Its reputed medicinal proper- 

 ties are most probably exaggerated ; and both the flowers and the 

 seed are employed in this country in the cure of various nervous af- 

 fections, and especially epilepsy. Yoloxochitl is an Aztec term im- 

 plying the Flower of the Heart (Flor del Corazori). 



I shall conclude these remarks by observing, that several of the 

 matters indicated, together with a multitude of others relating to the 

 vegetable kingdom of Mexico, have been discussed in a German bo- 

 tanical periodical : " Linnaea. Ein Journal fur die Botanik in ihrem 

 ganzen Umfange. Herausgegeben von D.F. L. v. Schlechtendal. 

 Berlin, Jahrgang 1829, et seqq." 

 Mexico, 28th December, 1834. 



Mr. Hamilton stated that he has lately received a pericarp and 

 two nuts of the celebrated Palo de Vaca, from the vicinity of the 

 farm of Barbula, spoken of by Humboldt ; but, unfortunately, they 

 did not reach him in a state fit for vegetation, and were apparently 

 too old when gathered. He has written for a further supply of 

 fresher fruit, and specimens of various ages, together with the flowers, 

 which have never yet been botanically examined. 



Below is a rude outline of the pericarp and one of the nuts, of 

 their natural dimensions. 



Pericarpii diameter equatorialis poll. 2 ; diam. polaris 1 7 e poll. 



He has also been favoured by Sir R. Ker Porter with a few seeds of 

 the wax-tree of Guyana, and a candle made from its wax. A plant 

 raised from one of these seeds is now growing in Pontey's nursery at 

 Dublin, but has not yet assumed an arborescent character. What this 

 tree is cannot yet be ascertained ; it bears at present little resem- 

 blance to the genus Amyris, to which it might otherwise have been 

 suspected to belong. 



