404 ODOKOGRAPHIA. 



prominent nerves beneath. Eacemes elongated ; petals silky on 

 the outside, 4 or 5 inches long ; tube of stamens entire, not toothed 

 at the apex : fruit roundish. Plumier, Plantarum Americanum, 

 t. 147, f . 2 ; D. C. Prod., i., p. 624. Syn. 3fclia guara, Jaequin, 

 Stirpium Americanum, p. 126, t. 176, f. 37, Lin. Spec. 551. This 

 tree is a native of French Guiana and the Caribbee Islands, where 

 it attains a height of 30 feet. All parts of the tree, especially the 

 bark, smell strongly of musk. The wood is full of a bitter, resinous 

 substance, which renders it unfit for making into the staves of 

 rum hof;rsheads, beino; observed to communicate both its smell and 

 taste to all spirituous liquors. Other species of this genus are 

 more or less musk-scented, such as G. Siuartzii (D. C. Prodr., i., 

 p. 624). Syn. Elutheria, Browne, Civil and jSTatural Hist. of Jamaicar 

 p. 369 ; Sloane, Hist, of Voyage to Madeira, Barbadoes, &c., ii., 

 t. 170, f. 1 ; G. trichilioides, Swartz., Observations Botanicise, 146. 

 This is a tree of 20 feet in height, and is also a native of the 

 Caribbee Islands. 



Vol. L, pp. 13 and 374. 



Ambergris. An opinion has been expressed by Beauregard* 

 that ambergris may be considered as an amber-coloured calculus, 

 containing a proportion of a black pigment and some excre- 

 mentitious matters. " Pieces extracted from the intestines of the 

 Sperm Whale appear to be formed by an aggregation of acicular 

 crystals arranged in different positions. If examined under the 

 microscope with the aid of polarised light, these crystals are 

 readily differentiated from the surrounding mass by the brilliant 

 colours displayed on revolving the prism," and it is suggested that 

 the peculiarities of structure disclosed should be utilised for the 

 rapid investigation of samples suspected to be adulterated. 



Vol. I., p. 18. 



Sumbul. Describing the starches in various root drugs, 

 E. S. Bastinf states: — " The starch grains of sumbul are smooth, 



* Jouin. de Pharm., xxvi,, p. 346. 

 t Apothecary, Dec, 1892. 



