101 



Mr. Teschemacher stated that it belongs to the family Sterculi- 

 acece, tribe Bombaciae, and is the only known species of the genus 

 Cheirostemon, a name derived from its five stamens being arranged 

 in a palmate manner. He also exhibited its interesting structure, 

 and made some remarks on the mode of growth, &c. 



Mr. Teschemacher presented specimens of Guano just 

 received from the coast of Peru, containing feathers, with 

 the request that they might be referred to the ornithologi- 

 cal section of the Society to ascertain, if possible, their 

 nature. 



With reference to the opinion, entertained by some, that the Gua- 

 no had been accumulating from a period perhaps prior to the ori- 

 gin of the human race, Mr T. translated the following passage 

 from the " Memoriales Reales" of " Garcilasso de la Vega." Lis- 

 bon, 1609, p. 102. " On the seacoast, from below Arequipa as 

 far as Tarapaca, which is more than two hundred leagues of coast, 

 they use no other manure than that of marine birds, which exist 

 on all the coast of Peru, both great and small, and go in flocks 

 perfectly incredible, if not seen. They are reared on some unin- 

 habited islands which exist on that coast, and the manure that they 

 leave is of inconceivable amount. At a distance, the hills of it 

 resemble the mounds on some showy plain. In the time of the 

 Incas there was so much vigilance in guarding these birds that, 

 during the rearing season, no person was allowed to visit the 

 islands under pain of death, in order that they might not be fright- 

 ened and driven from their nests. Neither was it allowed to kill 

 them at any time, either on or off of the islands, under the same 

 penalty." Each district or territory also had a portion of these 

 islands allotted to it, the penalties for infringement of which were 

 very severe. From this extraordinary case it is probable that the 

 Incas did not permit any remarkable consumption of this valuable 

 manure beyond the annual additions ; and the consumption during 

 the depopulation of South America by the Spaniards could, by no 

 means, have equalled those annual deposits. Even the greatest 

 thickness of seven to eight hundred feet might, without extrava- 

 gant calculation, be deposited in about three thousand years at the 

 rate of two or three inches a year. The feathers do not appear 



