ILLUSTRATIONS. \2J 



I have also seen in dr. Mitcalll's possession a real aranhisb - je.na, or coluber 

 biceps, having two beads at one end of the body, diverging from the same verte- 

 bral column. It is between four and five inches long, and the colour is a light 

 brown. It was presented to the doctor by John G. Bogert, esq. of this city, who 

 procured it from captain Henry G. Hose, w ho brought this and two others of a 

 similar kind from Toconroba, one of the Fejee islands, to this city. 



Dr. Mitch il! informs me that he has seen a coluber biceps in the possession of 

 professor Walker, at Edinburgh ; a second in Quebec, in the collection of general 

 Davies ; and a third was shown to him at Washington by president Jeffersou ; 

 and from the frequency of their occurrence, the doctor is inclined to believe 

 that this animal is not a lusus naturae, but a regular production. If so, and his 

 opinion is almost conclusive on such subjects, n-e must consider the real amplus- 

 , or coluber biceps, as a new and distinct genus of serpents. 



NOTE 32. 



fhis 5s probably the glycine apios, or wild potato, which is nearly a? good as 

 the common, and which was, when boiled, a favorite food of the indiaus. 



The Jerusalem artichoke, or heliantbus tuberosus, grows spontaneously 

 xhe country, is sometimes brought to our markets for sale, and is a wholesome, 

 Agreeable vegetable. This plant ought to be cultivated. It produces about foot 

 hundred and eighty bushels an acre. It flourishes in almost any soil, bri 

 almost invariably, a certain ciop, and it is also proof agrunst the severest frost? 

 The bulb of arrowhead, or sagittaria sagittifolia, boiled, or roasted in hot ashe=^ 

 was eat by our Indiana. It tasted nearly like potatoes. It is commo'jly an iaci* 

 and a half long, and one inch and a half broad in the middle, i> toinetimes a* 

 large as a man's fist, and grows in low, muddy, and very wet ground. I . 

 poses a considerable part of the food of the Chinese, and 5? cultivated by tliest. 

 It ought to be carefully guarded against swine, who eagerly devour it. I:- 1 

 valley to the west of the Rocky Mountains, which extends seventy miV 

 found in great abundance, and is a principal article of trad*: between the inhabi- 

 tants of that valley and those of the sea coast 



Our Indians also made use of the root of a vegetable which they called tawbo- 

 tawkin, or tuckah, and which, Kalm says, is the arum virgjojcuni, or wake robifi. 

 When fn-sh it ha? a pungent taste, but when roasted it is like potatoes. It flour- 

 ishes in moist grounds and swdmps, and often c r 

 . but is nearly cxt'.rpatert bv i S< !io;r- 



