STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 649 



the larva earlier had cut out of the seed wall. Different investigations were 

 made in order to discover the advantage derived by the insect from the move- 

 ments. Some observers, among them Ascherson, surmise that the jumping of 

 the seeds is a means of frightening seed-eating animals, an explanation which 

 can scarcely be considered adequate. The ' jumping beans ' are not produced 

 in equal abundance every year. Many years none at all are found." 



The " jumping beans " were not known in Europe until 1854, when soma 

 were sent to England by the British minister, and the determination of the 

 plant which produced them was long unknown. In Mexico they are known 

 to be derived in part from Sapiiim biloculare, and probably they are borne by 

 plants of other related genera.* In other countries also similarly affected 

 fruits are found in nearly related plants: In Africa, Sapium elHpticum 

 (Hochst.) Pax; in Brazil and Chile, species of Colliguaya. 



It may be that more than one species is represented here, but this seems very 

 doubtful. 



25. COPvYTHEA S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 22 : 451. 1887. 



Shrubs ; leaves alternate, petiolate, crenate, stipulate ; flowers monoecious 

 (?), the staminate glomerate in the axils of scarious galeate bracts; staminate 

 sepals 4 ; pistillate sepals 6 ; capsule 3-celled, tuberculate. 



The following are the only species known. 

 Pistillate flowers solitary or fasciculate in the axils ; leaves short-petiolate. 



1. C. filipes. 

 Pistillate flowers racemose ; leaves long-petiolate 2. C. mnltifiora. 



1. Corythea filipes S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 22: 451. 1887. 



Known only from the type locality, barranca near Guadalajara, Jalisco. 



Slender shrub, about 2 meters high ; leaves alternate, thin, ovate to oblong- 

 elliptic, 3 to 7 cm. long, obtuse or acutish, obtuse at base, coarsely crenate, 

 puberulent or glabrate; staminate flowers spicate; pedicels 3 cm. long or 

 less. 



2. Corythea multiflora Standi., sp. nov. 



Type collected between Acaponeta and Concepcion, Tepic (Rose 1532; U. S. 

 Nat. Herb. no. 300375). 



Branchlets sparsely pubescent or glabrate; stipules small, scarious; petioles 

 6 cm. long or less; leaf blades elliptic-ovate to rounded-ovate, 5 to 12 cm. 

 long or larger, acute or obtuse, rounded to subcordate at base, coarsely cre- 

 nate, puberulent along the veins, 3 or 5-nerved at base; pistillate flowers few 

 or numerous, racemose, the racemes 3 to 5 cm. long, the slender pedicels 2 to 

 10 mm. long, puberulent; capsule (immature) 3-lobate, strongly tuberculate, 

 puberulent. 



26. HIPPOMANE L. Sp. PI. 1191. 1753. 



1. Hippomane mancinella L. Sp. PI. 1191. 1753, 



Chiefly along seashores, Veracruz and Yucatan ; Oaxaca ; Socorro Island. 

 Southern Florida, West Indies, Central America, and northern South America. 



* The following literature upon the subject may be cited : C. V. Riley, IVIexican 

 jumping beans and the plants upon which they are produced, Amer. Garden 

 1891: 552-554. 1891; C. V. Riley, Mexican jumping beans, Proc. Entomol. Soc. 

 Washington 2: 178-181. 1892; Jose Ramirez, Otros datos para la historia de la.s 

 semillas brincadores, Naturaleza II. 2: 403; Jose Ramirez, Nuevos datos para 

 la historia de las semillas brincadoras, Naturaleza II. 2: 408. 



