CORRESPONDENCE OF RAT. 469 



to give to my queries: 1. As to the Phyllitis, &c., you 

 have fully satisfied me that yours is a distinct species 

 from Mr. Banister's. 



2. The jfrumentum indicum minus, described by"C.B." 

 out of Tabermont. I do still suspect to be a figment. But 

 I myself, when I was in Germany, observed whole fields, 

 some with a lesser kind of maize differing in nothing from 

 the greater but in the lowness of its stature and small- 

 ness of all its parts. But whether this lesser sort be or 

 be not a distinct species, you are not concerned to deter- 

 mine, no such growing in Jamaica. 



3:~J, am not yet fully satisfied that Clusius's igname 

 is a species distinct from Marcgrave's, because (as I said) 

 they both came from, or at least were denominated of, 

 St. Thome, and besides, the figures of the root in both 

 authors are alike. Probably, as you intimate, Clusius 

 might have of both sorts, and mingle or confound them 

 into one. It concerns me to be more curious in this 

 inquiry because in my History I have made Marcgrave 

 and Clusius's inhame to be one and the same, which, 

 if it be a mistake, must be corrected in my Supplement. 



4. You have staggered me in the opinion and per- 

 suasion I had that the Xylon herbaceum and arboreum 

 were two distinct species. I find Bellus is of your 

 opinion, and that Veslingius's description of the seed of 

 the tree kind agrees well to that of the herbaceous, as 

 you also have observed it. But then the fruit which 

 J. Bauhine describes, and which I have seen, must be of 

 another kind. What say you to J. Bauhine's note of the 

 tree kind, that its leaves are smooth ? and Vesling's, that 

 he observed not in it that pale yellow flower which is 

 noted in the Xylon herbaceum ? As to the difference of 

 arborescent and herbaceous, I make no great account of 

 that. 



5. Concerning the Pimpinichi of Manardes, I see I 

 must still remain in suspense. 



6. The Jamaica pepper, or allspice, I am persuaded is 

 specifically distinct from Clusius's amomum, &c. This 



