taken from a plant cultivated in Mandos from material 
gathered along the Rio Curicuriari, an affluent of the 
upper Rio Negro, represents Banisteriopsis Caapi. 
During a year’s stay in the upper Rio Negro and its 
affuents in Brazil in 1947, I heard, on several occasions, 
reference to two kinds of caapi. As has been pointed out 
in detail above, it was from this region that Spruce re- 
ported a second kind of caapi, known locally as caapi- 
pinima, which he suggested might be referable to the 
apocynaceous vine Prestonia amazonica (Hlaemadictyon 
amazonicum). And it was likewise in this region that 
Ikoch-Griinberg found that the Tukanos distinguish two 
species of caapi, for only one of which (Banisteriopsis 
Caapi) he ventured a determination. 
It was my good fortune in 1948 to be able to witness 
the preparation of and to take a narcotic drink amongst 
the nomadic Maku Indians of the Ira-Igarapé, an affluent 
of the Rio Tikié which flows into the Rio Negro below 
Ipanoré. Specimens (Schultes & Lopez 10184) taken from 
the flowering vine, from the bark of which a cold-water 
infusion was made without the admixture of other plants, 
were found to represent an undescribed species of a mal- 
pighiaceous genus allied to Banisteriopsis— Tetrapterys 
methystica R. K. Schultes (87), The beverage prepared 
from Tetrapterys methystica has a yellowish hue, quite 
unlike the coffee-brown color characteristic of all prep- 
arations of Banisteriopsis which I have seen or taken. A 
small amount of stem material for chemical study which 
I gathered from this wild vine was lost in the overturning 
of my canoe, so nothing, unfortunately, can be stated 
concerning the chemical nature of the plant. ‘wo impor- 
tant points, however, should be emphasized in connection 
with this discovery: (1) T'etrapterys methystica may pos- 
sibly represent the second kind of caapi reported by 
Spruce and Koch-Griinberg, and it might be that the 
[ 40 | 
