201 



much elasticity as Sumatra tobacco of similar texture [see note 

 under ' Description of Sample' as to probable reason of this 

 ' tenderness"] ; the burning is very fair, and the flavour not unsatis- 

 factory. 



Similar tobacco, well put up, would fetch on the English market 

 up to about 3s. per lb. for first lengths, say 2s. 3d. per lb. for the 

 second lengths, and from is. 3d. to is. 6d. per ft. for the third 

 lengths. 



" We feel sure that the soil and climate which have produced 

 this tobacco are suitable for growing 'wrapper' tobacco equal to 

 most in the world, and if labour is plentiful and cheap and the 

 area of suitable ground large enough there is a chance in time of 

 this district of Jamaica becoming a serious competitor of Borneo, 

 Sumatra, and Java." 



The experts also suggest that it might be worth while to carry 

 out a similar cultivation experiment in Jamaica with Java tobacco, 

 as this would probably yield a " wrapper" leaf which would be 

 stronger in texture and of even better flavour than the present 

 sample. 



Tne results of the experts' trial of this tobacco show that it is of 

 good quality, and that if a similar quality can be placed on the 

 English market in quantity, it will probably realise remunerative 

 prices. 



A NEW BOTRYCHIUM FROM JAMAICA.'' 



By WILLIAM RALPH MAXON. 



The systematic status of the members of the group of Botrycliiiini 

 ternatum has been the subject of a good deal of comment within 

 the past ten years. Naturally there have developed legitimate 

 differences of individual judgment and interpretation ; and, while 

 in one or two instances the results offered have been such as to 

 suggest doubt that the author was in actual possession of some of 

 the forms under discussion, it is probably true that no two students 

 working with the same series of specimens would arrive at con- 

 clusions absolutely identical. It becomes often an exceedingly 

 difficult matter to decide whether a given series of plants — and too 

 often a small series — constitutes a sufficiently marked and coherent 

 assemblage to stand apart, specifically distinct, from an obviously 

 related form ; or, whether, on the other hand, it is to be regarded 

 as a mere local variation induced, it may be, by habitat. 



Of the so-called species recently recognized,t several — and they 

 are, in the opinion of the writer, very few in number — do not ap- 

 pear to be valid species in the ordinary sense of the term : they 

 lack distinctive diagnostic characters and pass insensibly into 

 another form. And, it must be confessed, a study of the entire 



* From the Bulletin of the Torrey J}otaii iftil Chih, .S2: 210-222, pi. G. 1905. 

 t Underwood, An index to the described speciis of Botrychiiim. Bull. Torrey Cluh 30, 

 42-55. Ja., 1903. 



