NEW  KIND  OP  MATICO. 
121 
a  substance  allied  to,  and  analogous  in  its  properties  to  that 
drug,  and  probably  known  in  the  district  from  whence  it  had 
been  forwarded  under  the  same  name. 
Having  now  got  a  clue  to  the  botanical  and  geographical 
source  of  the  new  drug,  I  went  to  the  British  Museum,  where 
every  opportunity  was  kindly  afforded  me  by  Mr.  Carruthers 
of  consulting  the  necessary  books  upon,  and  the  dried  speci- 
mens of,  the  different  species  of  Artanthe  which  were  pre- 
served in  the  Museum  collections.    As  there  are  nearly  two 
hundred  species  of  this  genus,  natives  of  the  West  Indies,  and 
of  Central  and  South  America,  described  by  Miquel,  the  stand- 
ard authority  of  the  order  Piperacece  ;*  and  from  the  fact  of 
my  only  having  some  broken  leaves,  and  a  few  small  pieces  of 
the  branches  and  flower-spikes,  for  examination  and  identifica- 
tion, the  task,  as  may  be  supposed,  was  by  no  means  an  easy 
one.    At  first,  I  thought  from  its  having  arrived  with  some 
genuine  matico,  and  also  from  the  resemblance  it  bore  to  a 
specimen  in  the  Museum  collection,  marked  Artanthe  elongata, 
Miq.,  which  was  stated  to  be  derived  from  South  America,  and 
obtained  from  Pavon's  Herbarium,  that  it  might  be  like  true 
matico,  also  obtained  from  Artanthe  elongata.    Its  marked  dif- 
ference from  ordinary  commercial  matico,  however,  and  a 
more  minute  examination,  were  opposed  to  this  supposition.  I 
then  carefully  compared  my  specimen  with  the  other  dried 
specimens  of  Artanthe  in  the  Museum,  and  after  a  minute  criti- 
cal examination  and  comparison  with  them,  I  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  corresponded  most  nearly  with  that  marked 
Artanthe   adunca,    Miq.    Further   examination  of  Miquel's 
'  Systema  Piperacearum,'  as  well  as  the  works  of  Jacquin, 
Kuiz  et  Pavon,  and  of  other  authors  which  refer  to  the  botani- 
cal characters  and  geographical  sources  of  Artanthe  adunea, 
have  satisfied  me,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  me  to  be  so,  from 
the  examination  of  the  imperfect  specimens  in  my  possession, 
that  this  new  kind  of  matico  is  derived  either  from  one  of 
Miquel's  varieties  of  Artanthe  adunca,  or  from  a  species  very 
nearly  allied  to  it,  and  which  can  only  be  determined  satisfac- 
torily by  the  examination  of  more  perfect  specimens  than 
*  Miquel's  '  Systema  Piperacearum.' 
