Trelease—The Mexican Fiber Agaves Known as Zapupe. 31 
three easily recognized groups, of which one contains the 
cultivated azul only; another the cultivated Tepezintla 
and ‘‘ixtle’’ forms and the wild plant of the eastern flanks 
of Mount Orizaba; and the third the cultivated Tantoyuca 
and the wild cimarrén forms. The first, as Mr. Dewey 
has recognized, appears to be of the alliance of the typical 
west-slope ‘‘Tequila’’ species, and opinions differ as to 
whether or not it possesses any indigenous representative 
on the east slope; the second group appears to be of the 
table-land and eastern slope and is represented among de- 
seribed species by A. rubescens; and the third group, 
though local, is evidently allied to some of the mezcal 
species grown in western Mexico. 
Through the kindness of Senor Molina, Secretario de 
Fomento of the Mexican Republic, Consul Lespinasse, 
Mr. Dewey, Dr. Endlich, Dr. Purpus, Consul Millwood 
and Senor Vincent, I have for some time had material 
and data sufficient for the differentiation of these five 
zapupe species, but have refrained from publishing on 
them in the hope that further material might be secured 
from which they could be fully described. Their economic 
importance and the constant need of botanical names by 
which they may be designated, however, are such that, at 
Mr. Dewey’s request, they are now named and briefly 
characterized from vegetative characters—in which re- 
spect they have not the distinction of faring worse than 
a majority of their congeners. For the opportunity to 
do even this, I cannot too warmly thank the correspond- 
ents above named—especially Consul Lespinasse, who 
first placed material in my hands, and supplemented it 
by many subsequent sendings, and Mr. Dewey, whose col- 
lections and field notes are invaluable. 
The zapupe forms are at most short-stemmed plants 
with numerous uniformly spreading straight concave 
elongated-lanceolate very fibrous dull but smooth leaves, 
armed with a strong end spine and numerous marginal 
prickles. The most important cultivated types are known 
to be Euagaves and there is no reason for doubt that all | 
