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NEW PUBLICATION. 277
yellow centre, and a whitish tube. The roots are fibrous (not catkin-like rhizomes,
as in the Achimenes tribe) ; and in habit the plant resembles the only
other known species of the genus (C. cnipreata, Hanstein), which, however, has
smaller and scarlet flowers, and a hau'y ovary. It was found at the Pavon
end of the Javali Mine, where it grew in only a very small spot—shady groves
on the banks of a rivulet. Although we became afterwards weU acquainted
with the vegetation of the distrir-t, we never met the plant anywhere but
there ; and after we had taken up sixty specimens, and planted them in a
miniature ^Yardian case, fire was set to the very spot where the Cyrtodeira
grew, for the purpose of clearing it. The sixty specimens readdy took root,
and on our departure a boy was engaged to carry them on his saddle before
him to Leon, a distance of about eighty leagues. All went on well, till one
evening darkness overtook us on the immense grassy plains of Tipitapa, and
the boy's mule fell into one of those wide cracks which during the dry season
in the tropics always form where the ground is clayey. Down came the
Wardian case with a heavy crash, and one-half of our plants were lost. The
other half looked well enough tdl within two miles of the port of embarkation,
when the waggon in wliich, for greater safety's sake, they had been placed,
went into a deep hole, and turned right over. This time all but six specimens
were destroyed, and these were so much injured that when we arrived at London,
and handed them to Mr. W. BuU, of Chelsea, the enterprising plant
merchant, only one was found to be in a sound condition ; but that one has
become the progenitor of a numerous race, which now ornaments our hothouses."
In subsequent chapters Dr. Seemann details his second visit to
Nicaragua. About La Merced, on the Lake of Nicaragua, and
" I may add, in many other parts of the country, I noticed a goodly number
of the trees which yield the dyewood known by the name of Fiistic in commerce
{Madura tinctoria) . It belongs to the Slidberry famdy, and is termed
' Moran ' by the natives. The fruit is sweet and edible. The wood might be
profitably collected for export if there were any good ways of commimication,
as it fetches sometimes as much as £5 per ton in Liverpool. At present nobody
notices it."
At p. 196 an ascent of Pena Blanca is described, which is the
highest known peak of Chontales, and may be about 2500 feet above
the sea-level.
" The vegetation of Peiia Blanca is distinct from that of any other mountain-top
I have seen in Chontales. I found a fine purple Lobelia, a scarlet
caulescent Orchid {Ornithorliynchos) , and a crimson Macleania. Much to my
regret, many of the woody plants had been destroyed by fire. On my last
ascent the gentleman who had kindled the flame was with me, and was somewhat
astonished when, instead of receiving unquahfied praise for having
cleared the view, I told him it was fortunate, standing as we did on the brink
of a yawning precipice, that the enraged botanist within me was somewhat
mollified by my appreciation of the fine landscape which he had, as it were,
unrolled.
"Peua Blanca commands a very fine view. You cannot see any rivers,
though tbey discharge themselves into the Atlantic, the Javali entering the
Mico, and the Mico the Blewfields ; but you can see the Javah lode of auriferous
quartz rocks for several miles, and distinctly trace the various branches
—