112 MERRILL. 



fuisse defluvium capillorum imiiis lateiis, an forsan ox hac arbore ? Hypo 

 lao Indi Camucones, & Samhalcs, Eispanis infeiisissiiiii longis excipiunt arundi- 

 neis perticis, sagittis intoxicandis deservituiiini, irreniediabile venenum, oniiiibus 

 aliis alexiphaniiacis siiperiiis, praetprquam stercore liumano propinato. An 

 Argensolae arhor comosa, quani Insulae Celebes ferunt, ciijus xmibra occidentalis 

 mortifera, orientalis Antidotuni. An Machucae Zeuva ? qui addit : Sagittis 

 lacte fructus arboris MansanUlo, illitis vulneratos, non ciiiori, sod iiituinescere, 

 & hebetissimos roddi. Num MansaniUo idem, ac Mansanan sen Fotnum partus 

 Acaptiico ? quod referunt primum bone sapere, sed niox infernali ardore fancos, 

 & intoriora adnrendo excrneiare, qnod si non perimit, saepius mortales accolorat 

 accidentes : Asjjortatnr in naves, ut mures, & glires eo comesto intereant." 



This species lias long been known to Europeans, and many of the early travelers 

 in the Malayan Archipelago wrote fabulous accounts of the tree and its deadly 

 properties. Robert Broton ' has given an exhaustive historical accoimt of it. 



The distribution of true Antiaris toxicaria is somewhat doubtful, Hooker {., 

 reducing to it Antiaris innoxia Blume and- some other species, giving its distribu- 

 tion as from the Dcccan Peninsula, Pegu to Martaban, Ceylon and the Malay 

 Islands, stating that the north Australian A. macrophyUa R. Br. may be the 

 same. Engler gives the distribution as from Java to the Sunda Islands. 



* Bennett, Brown and Horsefield: PlantiP Javanicte Rariores (1838-52) pp. 

 53-63. 



