obtained from the Xanthoxylaceae. 199 



8-10 lines long, and about 1-2 broad, dehiscing longitudinally 

 into separate portions, and exposing to view two small, black, 

 shining seeds. The epicarp was completely dotted over with 

 tubercular receptacles or vesicles, containing a straw-coloured 

 oil, or oleo-resin, which copiously oozed forth on any abrasion 

 of its surface. The capsules have a peculiar aromatic odour, 

 with a pungent bitter flavour and warm burning taste, that sub- 

 sequently imparts to the palate a sensation of coolness when the 

 air has been drawn into the mouth. 



Although informed by the natives that these carpels were em- 

 ployed as a condiment, and also for certain medicinal and other 

 economic uses, I was unable to obtain any precise statement 

 illustrating their mode of appliance. That this and the anise- 

 pepper are of some utility, may be inferred from the care taken 

 in the preservation of the trees ; for, owing to the great dearth 

 of fuel, no brushwood of any kind is permitted to grow through- 

 out the country, the inhabitants being reduced to the necessity 

 of burning dried grass and the stalks oiZea, Panieum, and other 

 Cerealia, to cook their food. 



I am indebted for the specific distinctions and following 

 botanical details to Mr. Bennett of the British Museum, who, 

 with unvarying kindness, has embodied the whole in a concise 

 descriptive account contained in the appended letter. He re- 

 marks, with reference to the application of the term Xanthoxy- 

 lum to these Chinese species, that he so spells "the name in 

 conformity with its etymology and with the practice of Smith, 

 Sprengel, Martius, and Bentham, and in spite of the authority 

 of Linnaeus, Kunth, and DeCandolle, in favour of Zanthoxylon. 



" Your specimen from Tien-tsin agrees perfectly with Fagara 

 piperita of Linnaeus, which is entirely founded upon the ' Teo 

 and Tansjo' of Ksempfer, to whose figure your specimen bears 

 the most striking resemblance. This figure and the description 

 which accompanies it, together with the very accurate character 

 and description given by Siebold and Zuccarini in the ' Abhand- 

 lungen der Mathem.-Physikalischer Classe der K. Bayerischen 

 Akademie/ iv. p. 137, leave no room for any addition. We 

 have in the herbarium of the British Museum a miserable spe- 

 cimen from Ksempfer himself, and a tolerable one from Thun- 

 berg, which entirely confirm the identification. I have some 

 doubt with respect to your specimen from the Taku Fort, on 

 account of the total want of prickles, the larger size of the leaf- 

 lets, and the more ample and almost panicled inflorescence ; but 

 as it agrees in all other points, I am disposed to consider it only 

 as a variety. 



" You ask me whether this plant is the true source of the 

 Japanese pepper; and of this I imagine there can be no doubt, 



