Fortunately, an excellent set of drawings of Desmon- 
cus chinantlensis is now available for systematic study. 
Liebmann skilfully executed a number of drawings of 
his Mexican palms. These have never been published 
and, until recently, have been unavailable to most inves- 
tigators. Through the courtesy of the Field Museum of 
Natural History, photographic copies of a number of the 
drawings from Liebmann’s [cones Ined. have been dis- 
tributed to several herbaria. The excellence and com- 
pleteness of the figures of D.chinantlensis should remove 
every difficulty which may arise in the future as a result 
of ambiguity in the interpretation of the original descrip- 
tion or of discrepancies between the three original col- 
lections. 
II. UTILIZATION 
The manufacture of baskets, trays, hampers and other 
containers of excellent quality is an important industry 
among the forest-dwelling Chinantec Indians of the 
‘‘Chinantla.’’ The principal seats of this craft are the 
mountain villages of San Juan Lacova (long. 95° 55’, 
lat. 17° 29’), San Juan Petlapa (long. 96° 03’, lat. 17° 
29’), San Juan Teotalcingo (long. 95° 58’, lat. 17° 58’), 
and San Juan Toabela (long. 96° 04’, lat. 17° 32’). In 
these remote villages, most of the men are skilled in 
basket-making. 
This industry is ancient and is said to be much less 
extensive among the Chinantecs now than it was form- 
erly. According to Bevan (The Chinantec: Report on 
the central and south-eastern Chinantec region. Vol. 1— 
The Chinantec and their habitat, Inst. Panam. Geogr. 
Hist., Publ. 24 (1988) 45), the name of the very ancient 
Chinantec village of San Juan Lacova is a Zapotec word 
meaning “‘place of baskets’’ or ‘‘place of vines.’”’ 
Most of the baskets, trays and hampers are used local- 
[ 137 ] 
