1909] CHAMBERLAIN—DIOON SPINULOSUM 403 
: During my second trip to Mexico, in 1906, I saw small specimens 
of Dioon spinulosum in the park at Vera Cruz, but did not find it 
growing wild. Gov. TEoporE A. DEeHEsA, of the State of Vera Cruz, 
who has repeatedly assisted me in my investigation of Mexican cycads, 
again used his influence in my behalf, and I am also under renewed 
obligations to Mr. ALEXANDER M. Gaw, of the State Bureau of Infor- 
mation, Jalapa, Mexico, for his continued interest and active coopera- 
tion both in securing material and often in furnishing field notes. 
Mr. Gaw found that the plants in the park at Vera Cruz came 
from Tlacotalpam, a town southeast of Vera Cruz, and he also found 
4 that most people do not distinguish the two species, D. edule and 
_ D. spinulosum, for he was told that the plants in the park at Vera 
: Cruz could be found growing wild in the vicinity of Tlacotalpam, 
_ Catemaco, and elsewhere in the canton of Tuxtlas, and between 
Palmar and Colorado on the Interoceanic R. R. Doubtless the infor- 
mation in regard to the first three places was correct, but since I had 
found only D. edule in the Palmar-Colorado region, Mr. GAw sent 
a man through that entire district with a leaf of D. spinulosum as a 
guide. The man found D. edule in abundance, but failed to find a 
_ single specimen of D. spinulosum. In Vera Cruz the plant is called 
__ palma de Dolores, the same name which in the Jalapa region is applied 
to D. edule. The name tio tamal, which is commonly given to 
_ D2. edule because the seeds are used in making éamales, does not 
seem to be applied to D. spinulosum, although its seeds are edible. 
_ The natives of the coast region call both the plant and the seeds 
_ chicalitos, a name which I have not heard applied to D. edule. 
_ Froma park in Tlacotalpam Mr. Gaw secured a large ovulate cone 
of D. spinulosum, and he was told that the specimen came from the 
Sierra de Oaxaca Mountains near Tuxtepec, where the plant was 
Said to be very abundant. As the Tlacotalpam cone had only abortive 
seeds, Mr. Gaw, after repeated efforts, succeeded in securing from 
the Tuxtepec region an ovulate cone in which pollination and fertiliza- 
_ tion had taken place. Later he secured a cone with ripe seeds, which 
germinated readily. With the material Mr. Gaw sent the rather 
Startling information that, according to the natives, the cones are 
borne below the crown of leaves and not above the crown, as in D. 
ed 
