Plate Number: II 90Ketmia, amplissimo Tiliae folio, subtus argenteo, Flore magno luteo: The Maho-Tree These Trees usually rise with several Stems about five or six inches thick, and twenty five or thirty Feet high, with a light brown smooth Bark. The Leaves are set on pretty long Footstalks, and are in Shape of an Heart, their under Sides being of a pale light Green. Its Flowers are compos'd of five yellow Petals, hanging in a green pentaphyllous Calix. Its Seed Vessel is divided into five Cells, by the same Number of thin Membranes, and contain many black Seeds, formed like those of the Mallow Kind. The inner Rind of this Tree is very strong, and of great Esteem, which the following Recital from Dampier may serve to illustrate. They (the Musketo Indians) make their Lines both for Fishing and Striking, with the Bark of Maho, which is a Sort of Tree or Shrub, that grows plentifully all over the West Indies, and whole Bark is made up of Strings, or Threads, very stong; you may draw it off either in Flakes or small Threads, as you have Occasion. Tis fit for any Manner of Cordage, and Privateers often make their Rigging of it'. Sir Hans Sloane, in his Nat. Hist. of Jamaica, Vol. 1. p. 215. has been yet more particular in the Uses of this Tree. PHALAENA fusca, &cThe under Part of the Body of this Moth is of a dusky white, encompassed by five brown Rings, the Ground Colour of all the kings on the under Side is brown, and blended with innumerable waved Lines; near the Shoulder of each upper Wing is a black Spot, in Form of an Horshoe, in the Curve of which is a white Spot; at the further Corners of the same Wing is another black Spot shaped like an Heart, near which are two other black Marks in Form of Bellemnites, The lower Part of these upper Wings are also bordered with broad waved white Lines. On the upper Part of the lower Part of the wings are two black Spots, in Form likewise of an Heart, with a Crescent of yellow in the Middle of each; below which are two other yellow Crescents bordered with black, and below theta are two large black Spots, in each of which is a narrow Semicircle of white, and bordered with a Lift of yellow, over which joins a Crescent of black, and above that another of brown. |