(chahuar). To these the botanist Tafalla added the C. crispa. These three species are all included in Humboldt's C. Condaminea, which is readily known by the little pits, bordered with hairs, at the axils of the veins on the under side of the leaf. It would appear that at one period of growth these little pits or scrobicules are wanting, but when the plant is in full vigour they are markedly prominent. The C. Chahuarguera is described by Pavon as growing from eighteen to twenty-four feet in height; although now the trees, which yield the Loxa bark of commerce, do not attain a height of more than four to nine feet. It is met with on the grassy open crests of mountain ridges, in light sandy soil interspersed with rocks, amongst shrubs and young plants. The barks of Loxa were called crown barks, because they were reserved for the exclusive use of the royal pharmacy at Madrid; and they originally sold at Panama for five and six dollars, and at Seville for twelve dollars the pound; but in later times they were much adulterated, and the price fell to one dollar the pound. The C. Chahuarguera is the rusty crown bark of commerce,' and the C. crispa is the quina fina de Loxa or crespilla negra of the natives. A parcel of it has quite recently sold at a higher price than Calisaya quills. With this rusty crown bark are mixed larger quills particularly rich in the alkaloid called chinchonidine. The C. Uritusinga grew to the height of a lofty forest tree, but it is now nearly exterminated. The leaves assume a red colour before they fall, acquiring the most beautiful tints, and the tree is one of the finest in those forests. It is said that there is a great difference in 8 6 It is the form of C. Condaminea, | represented in the unshaded branch with capsules, Plate x. of the Plantes Equinoctiales. 7 It comes in very small quills, as if taken from a mere shrub. 8 Besides quinine several other febri fugal alkaloids are found in the chinchona barks, one of the most important of which is chinchonidine, discovered by Pasteur in 1852. 9 I found some very beautiful dried specimens of this species in the bota| nical gardens at Madrid last year. The the bark, according as it is grown on the sides of mountains most exposed to the morning or evening sun; and its position is believed to have a great influence on the quality of its alkaloids. The usual yield of the large quills is 3-5 to 3.6 per cent.1 The bark-collectors of Loxa are said to show some little forethought, a quality which is entirely wanting in most of their fraternity. To save the trees they occasionally cut off the whole of the bark, with the exception of one long strip, which gradually replaces its loss; and the second cutting is called cascarilla resecada. This practice was in use in the days of the botanist Ruiz, who protested against it, and declared that it was very injurious to the trees, many having been destroyed by it. Later accounts, however, show that the bark-collectors of Loxa are as thoughtlessly destructive as those in other parts of South America. They often pull up the roots, while the annual burning of the slopes, and the continual cropping of the young shoots by cattle, assist the work of destruction.3 It is, therefore, well that the C. Chahuarguera and C. Uritusinga, the earliest known and among the most valuable of the chinchona-trees, should have been saved from extinction by timely introduction into India. The annual export of Loxa bark, from the port of Payta, is from 800 to 1000 cwts. lanceolate leaves and panicles of flowers still retained their colour. They were marked "Cascarilla fina de Uritusinga de Loxa, Quin. de Pavon." 1 Howard's Nueva Quinologia de Pavon. 2 Howard, from MS. of Ruiz. II. THE "RED-BARK" REGION, ON THE WESTERN SLOPES OF CHIMBORAZO. The species yielding "red bark," the richest and most important of all the Chinchonæ, is found in the forests on the western slopes of Mount Chimborazo, along the banks of the rivers Chanchan, Chasuan, San Antonio, and their tributaries. So early as 1738 Condamine spoke of "red bark" (cascarilla colorada) as being of superior quality; and Pavon sent home specimens of the "red bark of Huaranda," and named the species C. succirubra. Some of these are now in the British Museum; and in the collection of Ruiz and Pavon, in the botanical gardens at Madrid, I found capsules, flowers, and leaves marked "cascarilla colorada de los cerros de San Antonio." In 1857 Dr. Klotzsch, an eminent German botanist, read a paper at Berlin, elaborately describing the "red bark” as a product of C. succirubra, from a very good specimen of Pavon's in the Berlin Museum. Mr. Howard has also received a specimen from Alausi, and he is inclined to the belief that there are several varieties of C. succirubra, and one or two allied species, as yet undescribed. Much light was thrown upon the history of this valuable species by Mr. Spruce, when he penetrated into the forests to collect seeds and plants for transmission to India in 1860. Though little was known of the tree until quite lately, there was never any doubt concerning the value of the bark. In 1779 a Spanish ship from Lima, bound to Cadiz, was captured off Lisbon by the Hussar' frigate, and her cargo consisted chiefly of" red bark," part of which was imported into England. In 1785 and 1786 Ruiz states that the collectors began to gather the bark of C. succirubra, and sell it at 4 Pereira, Materia Medica, ii. p. 106. Afterwards published in a panphlet of 57 pages, with plates. 6 In 1856 Mr. Howard shared Dr. Weddell's belief that the "red bark" belonged to a variety of C. ovata.Pharmaceutical Journal, Oct. 1856. Guayaquil, and from that time it continued to be found in the European markets. It contains a larger proportion of alkaloids than any other kind, amounting to as much as from 3 to 4 per cent. of the substance of the bark, and of this a fair share is quinine. Fine samples yield 3.9 per cent., selling at 8s. 9d. per lb.; and the quill bark from the smaller branches 3.6 per cent. Mr. Howard has recently procured 8.5 per cent. of alkaloids from a specimen of “red bark." A large supply of plants of this species is flourishing in India and Ceylon, and, from the richness of the species, the comparatively low elevation at which it thrives, and its hardy nature, it may be expected to become a cultivated plant of great value and importance. In 1857 the export of bark from the port of Guayaquil, the place of shipment for the C. succirubra, amounted to 7006 quintals, valued at 23,3537. In 1849-50 Dr. Weddell gives the amount at 1042 quintals. III.-THE NEW-GRANADA REGION. The importance of the chinchona-trees was fully established in the middle of the last century, and, Don Miguel de Santistevan, the director of the mint at Bogota, having addressed a memorial on the bark trade (estanco de cascarilla) to the Viceroy Marquis of Villar in 1753, the attention of the Spanish Government was seriously turned to the subject. When the Viceroy Don Pedro Mesia de la Cerda, Marquis de la Vega de Armijo, went out to Bogota in 1760,9 he was accompanied by the botanist Don José Celestino Mutis, a 7 Howard. 8 With "red bark" another kind, known as "West coast Carthagena," is exported from Guayaquil. The name is absurd. Mr. Howard believes it to be derived from the C. Palton of Pavon, which is found in the woods of Cuenca, native of Cadiz, who was appointed to conduct a botanical survey of New Granada, and especially to investigate the bark of the chinchona-trees.1 In 1772 Mutis found these trees in the neighbourhood of Bogota, and described four kinds in 1792, which he called C. lancifolia, C. cordifolia, C. oblongifolia, and C. ovalifolia, yielding four kinds of barks-anaranjada, amarilla, roja, and blanca, or orange-coloured, yellow, red, and white.2 He declared the C. lancifolia to be excellent for intermittent fevers, in which he was right, and to be identical with the C. Condaminea of Loxa, in which he was wrong; the C. cordifolia he recommended for remittent fevers, and the other two for inflammatory diseases. In reality the two last are not chinchonas at all, but belong to the genus Ladenbergia, and contain no fever-dispelling alkaloids whatever; while the C. Cordifolia is so poor in alkaloids as to be practically worthless. While Mutis, and his disciples Caldas and Zea, were prosecuting their researches in New Granada, an expedition under the botanists Ruiz and Pavon was sent to Peru; and an acrimonious paper war sprang up between the rivals, as to the respective merits of the barks of New Granada and Peru. Ruiz declared the New Granada kinds to be inferior to those of Peru, while Mutis contradicted him, and Zea3 went so far as to maintain that the species found by Ruiz and Pavon in Peru were mere varieties of the four chinchonas of Mutis, growing near Bogota.1 The C. lancifolia of Mutis is dispersed in wild inacces |