26 
OBSERVATIONS ON ZAMIA INTEGRIFOLIA. 
inodorous. By the Seminole Indians the tubers are exten- 
sively consumed as an article of food, prepared by roasting, a 
purpose to which they are also put by the white inhabitants 
and the army of Florida. They afford a substitute for pota- 
toes. From the dense hard substance, when dried, the In- 
dians are also in the habit of constructing the bowls of their 
pipes, which are lined with tin or a metallic substance. There 
are two varieties of the root — the white, and another having a 
reddish hue internally; the latter is mostly used for the con- 
struction of pipes. 
Coonti is the name by which this root is known in Florida 
and the Southern States ; a name which is also applied to the 
prepared farina, and under this title it is taken into the mar- 
kets of the South; with the view to such disposition, it is pre- 
pared by the descendants of the Spanish settlers in the neigh- 
borhood of St. Augustine. The mode of preparation is the 
same as that of common arrow root. 
Compared with the Bermuda arrow root, the Florida arti- 
cle has more of a mealy appearance and feel, and is of a duller 
white color, with less of the crystalline lustrous hue. When 
carefully prepared, it is, however, pure white, but is apt to be 
lumpy like that obtained from the tapioca root. When ex- 
amined with the microscope the form is that of" a half, a fourth, 
or third of a solid sphere," conforming to the account which 
has been given by Raspail of the form of the granule of the 
Maranta aurundinacea. ( See this Journal, vol. v. New 
Series, pp. 23.J Now, as we have determined by observa- 
tion that the form of the granules of Bermuda arrow root is 
round, the conclusion is 'inevitable that Raspail mistook the 
source of the article that he examined, and that it must 
have been the identical article under consideration. I am in- 
debted to Dr. Goddard for first directing my attention to this 
fact. 
