1101 
Notes from Correspondents abroad. 
THE COYO OR SHUCTE 
Mr. Wilson Popenoe , Agricultural Explorer, writes 
from Guatemala City, February 10, 1917: 
"In the mountains of northern and eastern Guate- 
mala there grows a fruit closely resembling the avo- 
cado, yet sufficiently different in foliage and flower 
to Indicate that it is a distinct species, propably 
as yet undescribed botanlcally. For the time being 
it must, therefore, be termed Persea sp. In eastern 
Guatemala, around Zacapa, Gualan, Chlquimula, and El 
Rancho it Is called shucte, chucte or sometimes chaucte, 
while in the northern part of the Republic , --immed- 
iately across the great Sierra de las Minas,--it is 
known under the names coyo and coyocte\ These latter 
names have been thought by some to Indicate two dis- 
tinct fruits, perhaps distinct species, but an exam- 
ination of several trees In the Alta Verapaz shows 
that they are in reality the same. Apparently the 
Indians call the cultivated fruit (for it Is often 
grown in their gardens and around their huts) coyo, 
and the wild tree, which is abundant in the mountains, 
coyoct<§. The suffix t6 in the Quekchl language is 
said to mean tree; coyoct6 would therefore mean noth- 
ing more than coyo tree. 
"In some sections of the Alta Verapaz the coyo 
is fully as common as the avocado, and seems to be 
held by the Indians in practically the same high 
esteem. An American coffee planter who lives in this 
region tells me that he considers the coyo even super- 
ior to the avocado in flavor, and after testing It I 
am inclined to agree with him. 
"The coyo must be considered, then, an unusually 
interesting new fruit, but it has certain defects 
which make it seem, on the whole, inferior to the 
avocado. It has, for example, a large seed in most 
cases, and the flesh Is sometimes disagreeably fi- 
brous. But it is quite variable, like its relative 
the avocado, and some coyos are much superior to 
others . 
"The coyo tree looks, at first glance, much like 
an avocado tree, and usually reaches about the same 
size. It is distinguishable from the avocado by the 
character of its leaves, which, upon close examina- 
tion, are seen to differ from those of the avocado in 
form, to be larger, and to have more or less brownish 
