442 Scientific Intelligence. 



of Le Sieur de Mens along the coast of'N'ew England in 1605 and 1606, 

 Citrouilles Rud Courffes are repeatedly mentioned, along with maize [Bled 

 dUnde) and beans : e. g. 



"Nous y vismes force citrovilles^ conrges & petum, qu'ils cnltiuet aussi. 

 • * . Pour les t'ebues elles come^oiet a entrer en fleur, come faysoyet 

 les courges et cltrouilles."— p. 68. 



*'Ceiix que nous anions enuoyes deuers eux, nous apporterent des pe- 

 tites citrouilles de la grosseur du poing, que nous mangeasmes en sallade 

 comme coucorabres, qui sont tresbonnes." — p. 77. 



See also pp. 83, 115, 116. Of course it does not follow that these es- 

 culents v:qtq natives of New England, any more than maize: but both 

 may probably have been carried northward together. Whatever their 

 origin, our Indians were found cultivating them together at this early date 

 as well as in later times. According to Nuttall the Indians along the 

 whole Upper Missouri half a century ago were cultivating Cucurbita ver- 

 rucosa. This common squash is, according to Naudin, a variety of C. 

 Pepo, as also is C aurantia (the C. Tcxana vel ovifera^ Gray, PI. 

 Lindh.) which has every appearance of being indigenous in the western 

 part of Texas, on the Rio Colorado and its upper tributaries. At least, 

 this is the opinion of Mr. Lindheimer and of Mr. Charles Wright, two 

 good judges. The latter peisonaliy informs us that, from the stations and 

 localities in which alone it is met with, he could not suspect it to be other 

 than an indigenous plant. 



That the later Gr^-eks and Romans possessed the bottle gourd or La- 

 genariix, and also some kind of summer souahh, seems pretty clear; hut 

 we see no decisive reason for the opiuion that they had any form of Cu- 

 curbita Pepo^ as that species is now understood. According to DeCan- 

 dolle, the earliest figures referable to this species are, one of C. ovifera by 

 Lobel in 1576, and'one of (7. verrucosa by Dalechamp in 15S7, namely, 

 about a century after the discovery of America, and loug after maize had 

 become well known in the south of Europe: and we have seen that some 

 forms probably of this very species (undoubtedly originating in a warmer 

 region) had by this time found their way in this country nearly as far 

 north as the climate will permit of their cultivation. So that there ap- 

 pears to be about the same evidence for the American origin of some 

 squashes and of pumpkins that there is for the American origin of maize 



A remaining argument brought by DeCandolie against this view may 

 also be tume'l tlie other way, namely, that no certain species of the genus 

 13 known as indigenous to America. He has equally allowed that none is 

 linown to be indigenous to the Old World. Now of the six species recog- 

 nized by Kaudin, two only are known in tlieir natural wild state, and 

 these are our southwestern species with perennial roots, viz., C. peremns 

 and C. diffitata; to which we add tliat C. Pepo itself (i. e. G. ovifera or 

 aurantia) grows wild in the same district with C. perennis, and has the 

 same appearance of being indigenous there. Wo leave the subject with 

 these incidental remarks, as we did not intend here to investigate this 

 (luestion, and will briefly allude to another subject, upon which Naudins 

 iiivestigations have thrown new light. 



It is generally thought that the cultivated CucurUtaceoE, and especially 





tlu 



Accord 



