14 BULLETIN 1057, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
many of the seeds are lost in crevices between the innumerable rocks 
and bowlders. Porcupines also devour the seeds, and the result is 
that in all probability about 50 per cent of the crop is lost. 
The trees are not regular fruiters. Those found in pure sand at an 
elevation of about 2,000 feet, the tallest and handsomest forming 
large forest tracts, were without fruit. In all, only two single small 
fruits were observed. The natives said that the year previous they 
had a very large crop. They will probably not get another crop 
from that particular locality before 1923. It was found that trees 
exposed to sunlight, standing by themselves in exposed locations, were 
loaded with immature fruits while, as has been said, those found in 
pure stands were without a vestige of fruit. After a search of several 
days one single tall tree was encountered under which ripe seeds were 
found with some of the fruit flesh still adhering ; on the party's ap- 
proach a troop of monkeys made its escape. This tree furnished about 
170 mature fruits, each fruit containing from 20 to 30 large angular 
seeds (PL III) . The fruits are quite different from those of Tarakto- 
genos Jcurzii; they are the size of an orange, pointed at the apex, dark 
brown, granular, and rough, while those of T . Jcurzii are perfectly 
globose, velvety tomentose, and fawn colored. The seeds are much 
alike. Hydnocarpus castanea seeds take twice as long to germinate 
as do those of Taraktogenos Jcurzii, probably because of their double 
testa. 
Many of the trees were found to have pieces of bark cut off their 
trunk, and, on inquiry, the writer was told that the bark is boiled 
and the decoction drunk as tea for internal disorders, as well as for 
skin diseases. The larger trees have strings tied around their trunks, 
so that they may easily be identified by children and young men sent 
into the forests to cut the bark. The illustration here presented (PI. 
IV) shows the trunk of a large Hydnocarpus castanea tree with a 
string made out of bamboo tied around the trunk. It also shows how 
much of the trunk had been decorticated. Decortication is soon fol- 
lowed by white ant, or termite, attacks, which make short work of 
these trees. 
HYDNOCARPUS CURTISII. 7 
This species was collected by the writer on the island of Penang, 
in the jungle along the only waterfall on the island. It is a small 
tree 15 feet high, or rarely taller. The fruits, which are rather small, 
are about an inch in diameter and globose. No chemical examina- 
tion has yet been made of the oil from seeds of this species. The 
writer found only male flowers and no fruits (March, 1921). 
''Hydnocarpus curtisii King (IS ; p. 119). Specimens collected by the writer, are 
deposited in the United State National Herbarium: Rock No. 1188, U. S. N. H. Nos. 
1,090,025 and 1,090,026. 
