BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 21 
the same rate after the plants shall have reached England. Mr. Spruce 
also desires to supply cultivators with seeds and living plants, according 
to terms hereafter to be agreed upon. We believe few Naturalists have 
left England better qualified for the task he has undertaken, or better 
calculated to give satisfaction to the purchasers, than Mr. Spruce, whether 
in regard to the selection or preservation of his specimens. His beautiful 
published eollections of plants made in the Pyrenees (see his tour given 
in the London Journal of Botany, vol. v. pp. 345, 417, 431) are a 
pledge of what may be expected of him from the regions of South 
America. 
Those who desire to address that gentleman on the subject of his 
collections can do so at Welburn, by Castle Howard, Yorkshire. 
ZABUCAJO, a new Esculent Nut, recently imported. 
In the Museum of the Royal Gardens, may be seen some nuts or 
seeds under the name of Zabucajo. They were brought to us a few 
days ago, by our friend Mr. Purdie (lately engaged on a Botanical 
Mission to New Granada, now in charge of the Botanic Garden, 
Trinidad) from Edinburgh and Glasgow. His attention was first di- 
rected to them at the fruiterers’ shops in Edinburgh, where he learned 
that they were already rather extensively imported from Para to Glas- 
gow and much used at table with the dessert. In size and shape the 
seeds are not much unlike the so called Brazil-nuts (seeds of Berthol- 
letia excelsa), they are equally covered by a hard coat, but are more 
irregular, and are longitudinally furrowed. This led to a comparison 
with the fruits of allied plants in the Museum ; and it was easy to see 
that the seeds belonged to a species of Lecythis; and all doubts were 
removed on referring to Aublet and finding the identical species 
described as Lecythis Zabucajo. It is there remarked that the seeds 
are much eaten by the colonists in French Guiana, being sweet and 
delicate, and considered preferable to the almonds of Europe: an 
opinion in which we are quite disposed to agree. On account of 
the excellency of the seeds, the French Government, much: to their 
credit, introduced the cultivation of this Tree into the Mauritius, 
nearly a century ago, and in 1761, Aublet tells us the plants were then 
