Dionisio de Alcedo, although less widely known than his son, nevertheless played an important rôle in the affairs of the colonies, and made certain contributions to the published information concerning the Indies. He was born in Madrid, and, in 1706, he left Spain for Peru. In 1708, while returning to Europe, he was taken prisoner by the English. Having been liberated and sent to Quito, he arrived there in time to accompany Bishop Diego Ladrón de Guevara to Lima, where provision had been made for Guevara’s succession to the viceregal office after Castelldosrius. During the succeeding years Alcedo was charged with important and commissions until he was finally appointed, in 1728, president of the province of Quito. This post he held until 1737. He was thus at the head of the government of Quito when the French commissioners with Juan and Ulloa began their observations and measurements under the equator. Subsequently, having returned to Spain, he was appointed president and commanding general of Panama. He served in this capacity from 1743 to 1749. He retired from this office in consequence of charges presented by the judges of the audiencia, which proved, however, to be entirely unfounded. He retired to Spain in 1752, and died there in 1777 at the age of eighty-seven. Two works by Dionisio de Alcedo y Herrera were published in Madrid. The first was _Aviso histórico político geográfico con noticias particulares de la América meridional_ (1741); the second, _Compendio histórico de la provincia, partidos, ciudad, astillero, ríos, y puerto de Guayaquil_ (1741). [Sidenote: Antonio de Alcedo’s _Diccionario_] Antonio de Alcedo, a son of Dionisio de Alcedo, born in Quito in 1735, availed himself of material presented by his father and by various writers on America, and compiled the well-known _Diccionario geográfico de las Indias_, which was published in five volumes at Madrid in the years 1786 to 1789. This was later translated into English, with various additions and corrections, the translation thus becoming more valuable than the original. It was designed to embrace descriptions of the provinces, the cities, and the most striking natural features of the whole of America, but the parts devoted to British America, as might very well be expected, are less important than those treating of Latin America. [Sidenote: Zamacola, priest of Arequipa]