52 BOTANY AND NOMENCLATURE. 



After the lapse of some years I still see no necessity to- 

 revise the list. 



Dr. Morris in (Cacao and how to cure it 1882)* made two- 

 classes only, placing Calabaeillo with Forastero. I retain the 

 original classification because it appears to me to cover well 

 all the various types which are present. Galabacillo is 

 certainly as far removed from Forastero, as Forastero is from 

 Criollo, as seen in Plantations of the present day, when every- 

 intermediate form from Criollo down to Calabaeillo can be seen 

 linking the whole in one continuous chain of varieties. To 

 properly classify Cacao, we must first know what the originals. 

 were like, and it is clear that at the present time, it is hard to. 

 decide exactly what were the forms assumed by the older types 

 of Cacao fruit. There is an apparent consensus of opinion 

 however which points to the thin skiined and bottle necked 

 variety, as the original Criollo,! and this is quite confirmed by 

 the Criollo being discovered in the virgin Forest of an uncultivated 

 part of Trinidad. Criollo has either yellow or red pods (red or 

 yellow coloring of the pod affects the interior but little and the 

 same quality of bean may be formed under both colours, and the- 

 seeds when cut, show a white or nearly colourless inlerior. This, 

 character is also pos.sessed by Java and Ceylon Cacao — and by 

 the Criollo of Central America, and also by the produce of" 

 Theobroma pentagona. (Figs, x, y, z.) 



Forastero Cacao of the best class also shews a light coloured 

 interior but slightly tinged with purple, but this increases until 

 in Calabaeillo we have beans most highly coloured. 



Venezuelan Cacao fi'om some of the finest Estates, such as. 

 Ocumare and others can readily be distinguished by the lightness 

 of the colour of the interior of the bean and by the shape of the- 

 bean although to all outside appearance, the pods belon" to th& 

 general type of Forastero. On Trinidad Estates, which have- 

 introduced certain strains of Cacao from the Mainland wo 

 find what I consider is the finest class of Forastero Cacao. In 

 ordinary Cacao, pods may be found illustrating the passage, by 

 almost imperceptible diflerences, from the Criollo on the one- 



* " Cacao, How to grow and how to cure it." D. Morris (Jamaica,. 

 I0S2 ) 



t Criollo— Spanish for Creole. 



