281 



Prof. Riley then presented a paper entitled „The Mexican 

 Jumping Bean — the Determination of the Plant". In this paper 

 the plant was accurately determined for the first time. After refer- 

 ring to the literatnre on the subject, the various descriptions of the 

 plant and the names by which it is known to the Mexicans, he 

 described having recently received from Mons. P. Chretien, a momber 

 of the French Entomological Society, an interesting communi- 

 cation relating to Carpocapsa saltitans, in which he referred to the 

 plant Colliguaja odorifera Moline, of which Croton colliguaja 

 Sprengel is a synonym. Shortly after this Mr. J. N. Rose, of the 

 Botanical Division, brought him specimens of the plant, together 

 with capsules, which had been collected by Dr. Edward Palmer. 

 The plant turned out to be undescribed and belongs to the genus 

 Sebastiania and will be described by Mr. Rose as S. Palmeri, 

 thus indicating the probable incorrectness of M. Chretiens reference. 



Prof. Riley gave a description of the plant and some interesting 

 notes on the names applied to it in Mexico and South America 

 under the populär name Colliguaja. Two other closely allied 

 species were also collected, and showed evidence of being infested 

 by Carpocapsa, and Prof. Riley believed that the insect develops 

 in the capsules of different but closely allied species of Sebastiania. 

 Additional matter was presented relating to the character and des- 

 cription of these plants. 



Am 7. Mai (1. c. pag. 432) trägt Professor Riley ferner vor: 



(4) A Further note on the plant on which the Jumping Bean 

 occurs. In this note Professor Riley referred to a letter just received 

 from Prof. Sereno Watson, of Cambridge, accompanying specimens 

 of seed pods of Sebastiania bilocularis and the moth breed 

 therefrom. This moth Prof Riley found to be much smaller than 

 Carpocapsa saltitans and, in fact, to belong to another genus (Gra- 

 phoiitha) and stated that he would shortly describe it as Grapho- 

 litha sebastianiae. He was of the opinion, that one of the moths 

 obtained in a recent sending of the Jumping Beans, but which was 

 somewhat injured and had been lost, was without much doubt, the 

 same species as the insect bred by Prof. Watson. He also pointed 

 out an interesting fact regarding the restricted locality, in which, 

 according to Prof. Watson, the Jumping Beans are found, and stated 

 that they are collected and sold by boys, and find a ready market. 



Roses Arbeit über den Gegenstand kam mir in der zweiten 

 Jaliwoche 1891 zur Kenntnis. Damals erhielt ich durch die Güte 

 des Herrn Georg Vasey, des Chefs der botanischen Abteilung des 

 „U. St. Department of Agriculture" zu Washington die Nr. 4 des 

 ersten Bandes der „Contributions from the U. S. National Her- 

 barium".*) Dieses, am 30. Jani d. J. ausgegebene, nach amerikanischer 

 Weise reichlich mit Tafeln ausgestattete Heft enthält zwei Arbeiten 

 von J. N. Rose, in welchen die von Dr. Edward Palmer während 



*) Die Nordamerikaaer besitzen bereits ein Nationalherbarium ihrer 

 Flora, welches der deutschen Nation noch immer fehlt. 



