406 Dr. B. Seemann on a new Species of Upas-Tree. 
sixth species of Antiaris, if not a seventh, is the one which, in 
honour ofits original discoverer, I have named A: Bennettii. It 
is closely allied to A. macrophylla, R. Br., from the northern 
parts of New Holland, but at once distinguished in having fruits 
covered with a thick coating of velvety hair. It had been 
found in Fiji, first by Prof. Harvey, afterwards by me. About 
thirty years earlier, however, viz. in May 1830, the plant had 
been discovered by Dr. George Bennett, of Sydney, New South 
Wales, on a small island situated N.W. of Fiji, in lat. 12 S., 
long. 169 E., and was thus alluded to in his ‘ Gatherings of a 
Naturalist in Australasia’ (8vo. London, 1860, p. 403) :— 
“When visiting the Island of Tucopia in May, I observed 
the Antiaris, or Upas-tree, planted in rows near the native buts ; 
but I am not aware that it is indigenous. It is named ‘ Mami’ 
by the natives; it is allied to the celebrated Upas-tree of Java, 
and accords with A. macrophylla, described and figured by the 
late Dr. Brown in the Appendix to ‘ Flinders’s Voyage.’ The 
tree at Tucopia is of slender growth, with pendulous branches ; 
it was growing to the height of 8 to 12 feet. The leaves are 
oblong, large, pointed, distinctly veined, and of a lght-green 
colour. The fruit is oval, rather larger than a pigeon’s egg, 
rough externally, and of a beautiful crimson colour. Between 
the husk and kernel there is a quantity of white viscid juice. 
The kernel, of white colour and intensely bitter taste, is 
enclosed in a thin shell of a grey colour. It is planted by the 
natives either for dyeing or manufacturing the bark into native 
cloth. Specimens in fruit and flower are in the Botanical Col- 
lection of the British Museum.” Thus far Dr. Bennett. 
“A species of Upas” (Antiaris Bennettii, Seem.), I wrote in 
my Official Report on the Vitian or Fijian Islands, “‘ commonly 
termed Mavu ni Toga (=Tonga), probably because it has 
been introduced from the Tongan Islands, was formerly planted 
about heathen temples, and is even now to be found in towns 
and villages. It is a middle-sized tree, with a thick crown of 
foliage, oblong glossy leaves, and a fleshy fruit of the size of an 
apricot, covered with a velvety skin of a most beautiful crimson 
colour. A gum exuding from the stem and branches is used 
for arrows. ‘The exact nature of its poisonous qualities has not 
yet been ascertained. That they are not equal to those ascribed 
to the true Upas-tree of Java (4. towicaria, Lesch.) is proved 
by the manner in which the natives handle it; but it is impos- 
sible to say whether one of the reasons for its cultivation near 
temples, and its probable introduction from Tonga, may not be 
‘ Ritti-gass’ vocatur.—The fruits of A. saccidora, Dalz., are elliptical in 
shape, as may be seen in the figure of it given by Wight, who distinctly 
states that his plate represents the Indian, not the Cingalese plant. 
