BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS, F.G.S., &C. 795 



may well have taken place between the epoch of the conquest and 

 the time when Acosta wrote, since Hernandez, whose conscientious 

 researches go back to the earliest times of the Spanish dominion 

 in Mexico (though published later in Rome) says not a word of 

 the banana.* Prescott, the historian, saw ancient books and 

 manuscripts which assert that the inhabitants of Tumbez bi'ought 

 bananas to Pizarro when he disembarked on the Peruvian coast, 

 and he believes that its leaves were found in the huacas, but he 

 does not give his proofs. f 



As regards the argument of the modern native plantations in 

 regions of America, remote from European settlements, I find it 

 hard to believe that the tribes have remained absolutely isolated 

 and have not received so useful a tree from colonized districts. 



Briefly, then, it appears to me most probable that the species 

 was early introduced by the Spanish and Portuguese into San 

 Domingo and Bi-azil, and I confess that this implies that Garcilasso 

 was in error with regard to Peruvian traditions. If, however, 

 later research should prove that the banana existed in some parts 

 of America, before the advent of the Europeans, I should be 

 inclined to attribute it to a chance introduction, not very ancient, 

 the efiect of some unknown communication with the islands of the 

 Pacific or with the coast of Guinea, rather than to believe in the 

 primitive and simultaneous existence of the species in both hemi- 

 spheres. The whole of geographical botany renders the latter 

 hypothesis improbable, I might almost say impossible, to admit, 

 especially in a genus which is not divided between the two worlds. 



In conclusion, I would call attention to the remarkable way in 

 which the distribution of varieties favors the opinion of a single 

 species — an opinion adopted, purely from the botanical point of view, 

 by Roxburgh, Desvaux, and R. Brown. If there were two or 

 three species, one would probably be represented by the varieties 



* I have read through the entire work to make sure of this fact. 



t Prescott, Conquest of Peru. The author has consulted vahxable works ; 

 among others, a manuscript of Montesinos of 1527 ; but he does not quote 

 his authorities for each fact, and contents himself with vague and general 

 indications which are very insufficient. 



