100 
The North American species produce hard durable timber. 
SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
LEGUMINOSZ. 
The wood of Prosopis spicigera, a 
moderate-sized tree, is used in India in making agricultural implements and carts, in buildings, and for 
furniture; and it is largely employed as fuel on locomotives and steamboats; the pods, like those of the 
North American species, are used for fodder; and in some districts of India the mealy sweet mesocarp 
is an important article of food, being eaten raw or cooked with vegetables.’ 
the Hindoos at the Dussera Festival.” 
This tree is worshiped by 
Numerous insects feed upon the leaves of the North American species, and borers often injure 
their stems.” 
The generic name was formed by Linneus from xpocwaic, employed by Dioscorides to designate 
the Burdock. 
1 Brandis, Forest Fl. Brit. Ind. 170, t. 25.— Aitchison, Jour. 
Linn. Soc. viii. 64. 
° Brandis, l. ¢. 
8 Little is known yet of the insects which feed on the North 
American species of Prosopis. Hemileuca yavapai, Neumoegen, has 
been found living on one of the species (Entomologica Americana, 
ii. 167), and A geria prosopis, H. Edwards, has been taken from 
galls on Prosopis juliflora (Papilio, ii. 99). Chrysobothris octocola, 
Leconte, bores into the stems of various species (Proc. Acad. Nat. 
Sci. Phil. 1858, 67), and Cyllene antennatus, White, lives in Mes- 
quite wood (G. H. Horn, Trans. Am. Entomolog. Soc. viii. 135). 
The fruit and seeds of Prosopis, as well as those of the North 
American species of Acacia and Cercidium, are often destroyed by 
weevils. The pods of Prosopis juliflora are infested by Bruchus pro- 
sopis, and those of Prosopis pubescens by Bruchus desertorum (G. H. 
Horn, Trans. Am. Entomolog. Soc. iv. 311. —J.G. Jack, Garden and 
Forest, iv. 280, f. 49). 
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES. 
ALGaRropia. Legume elongated, compressed or ultimately convex ; pinnz twelve to sixteen- 
foliolate. . . 2. . 1. 1. ew ww ew ew ww 
Strompocarpa. Legume thick, spirally twisted ; pinnz ten to sixteen-foliolate . 
- 4 ~ « « . . 1. P. sunrrLora. 
2. P. PUBESCENS. 
