102 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



tide of sustenance for the Indians, it was necessary to ascer- 

 tain the geographic distribution of Tuckahoe, and its preva- 

 lence in these localities. This was accomplished by send- 

 ing circulars of inquiry through the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion to nearly every Cryptogamic Botanist in the United 

 States, to Curators of Natural History Museums and to the 

 newspapers along the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi 

 Valley. It was found that it was more or less abundant in 

 the Coast States from New Jersey to Florida, and in Kansas 

 and Arkansas. The question : Did its growth depend upon 

 circumstances then existing ? was answered by giving an 

 outline of the process of its development, and specimens 

 were exhibited by way of proof. 



Likewise the means by which it might have been found 

 by the nations if its value as food was sufficient to pay for 

 the trouble. Its exact nutritive value was determined by 

 an analysis made by Dr. Parsons, which gave only three- 

 fourths of one per cent, of nitrogenous matter ; this being 

 insufficient to repair the waste in the animal tissues it was 

 pronounced valueless as food. The speaker then suggested 

 that there must have been other roots called Tuckahoe, and 

 quoted from a number of histories showing that a root by 

 this name was frequently described entirely different from 

 the one in question; and finally succeeded in identifying five 

 roots which were once known as Tuckahoe. Also the deriva- 

 tion of the word Tuckahoe given the speaker by the distin- 

 guished Ethnologist, Dr. Trumbull, shows that it is from 

 ptuckqui, meaning something round or rounded, and not from 

 a word meaning bread, as heretofore supposed. The conclu- 

 sion then given was, that Tuckahoe was a term applied to all 

 roots which were made esculent by cooking. Finally, all of 

 these except Pachyma cocos received a special name, this 

 alone retaining the appellation of Tuckahoe, and that when 

 we read of Tuckahoe as contributing so largely toward the 

 support of the aborigines we can only know that all edible 

 tubers were referred to. The paper was illustrated by six 

 large charts giving twelve botanic synonyms, eight affinities, 



