254 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
in other respects they are entirely different. The toddy palms 
(Borassaceae) and the true date palms (Phoenicaceae) are also 
specialized Old World types apparently quite remote from any of the 
New World families. 
The Old World palm flora as a whole seems to be much inferior to 
that of the New World from the standpoint of specialization of family 
types. The American preponderance is especially striking when the 
pinnate-leaved groups are compared. Apart from the Phoenicaceae 
and Caryotaceae, which are to be considered as independent deriva- 
tives from the ancestral fan palms, the Old World has only the 
Arecaceae to counterbalance the numerous pinnate-leaved groups of 
the American tropics. 
