Palms of British Guiana. 251 
abundantly in the pith, and are greedily eaten by the 
Indians and even regarded as a great delicacy by the 
older colonists. 
The 'cabbage' of the aeta is perhaps superior to 
that of any other palm. 
The ripe fruit is largely used as food by the Indians, 
who, after scraping off the fir-cone-like scales, place the 
whole remaining part of the fruit in water, where, after a 
few hours, the fairly abundant yellow pulp round the 
seed becomes soft, in which state it is readily detached. 
Pressed into small cakes, this pulp has some- 
what the flavour of rather strong cheese. A drink is 
also prepared by the Indians from the ripe fruit ; but I 
am not sure how this is done. 
Tribe III. COCOINE^E. 
[" Leaves pinnate ; leaflets with the sides reflexed before unfolding. 
Spadix flowering amongst the leaves ; spathes 2. Flowers monoecious 
on the same spadix. Ovary 3, rarely 4-celled, cells i-ovuled. Fruit 
1 — rarely 2 — or more, celled and seeded, endocarp marked with as many 
pits as there were cells to the ovary, of which 2 cells are usually 
suppressed, and the third marks the position of the embryo in the 
fertile cell. — Armed or unarmed, almost exclusively new world, palme." 
Hooker. ~] 
Subtribe VIII. BACTRIDE/E. 
[" Spinous, usually slender, palms of the new world. Endocarp 
with 3 pores at or above the middle of the fruit." Hooker."] 
Genus XIII. BACTRIS. 
[" Perigone male exterior 3-partite or 3-fid, rarely 3-phyllous, inte- 
rior 3-phyllous ; female exterior and interior urceolate, subtruncate or 
3-dentate. Stamens 6 — " 12." Ovary 3 ( — 1) celled, with 2 cells 
abortive: no 6 — dentate cupule : stigmas 2, sessile. Drupe i-seeded : 
putamen laterally 3-porous. — Trunk usually prickly along the leaf- 
sheaths ; leaves often scattered, but chiefly approximate above, pin- 
natisect, rarely 2-fid -entire ; spadix simply branched or simple, 
axillary ; flowers sessile." Griesbach.'] 
11 
