﻿88 
  Elementary 
  Species 
  

  

  tion, 
  whether 
  it 
  is 
  probable 
  that 
  the 
  coconut 
  is 
  

   of 
  American 
  or 
  of 
  Asiatic 
  origin, 
  leaving 
  aside 
  

   the 
  historic 
  evidence 
  which 
  goes 
  to 
  prove 
  that 
  

   nothing 
  is 
  known 
  about 
  the 
  period 
  in 
  which 
  its 
  

   dissemination 
  from 
  one 
  hemisphere 
  to 
  another 
  

   took 
  place, 
  we 
  will 
  now 
  consider 
  only 
  the 
  bo- 
  

   tanic 
  and 
  geographic 
  evidence, 
  brought 
  forward 
  

   by 
  Cook. 
  He 
  states 
  that 
  the 
  whole 
  family 
  of 
  

   coconut-palms, 
  consisting 
  of 
  about 
  20 
  genera 
  

   and 
  200 
  species, 
  are 
  all 
  strictly 
  American 
  with 
  

   the 
  exception 
  of 
  the 
  rather 
  aberrant 
  African 
  oil- 
  

   palm, 
  which 
  has, 
  however, 
  an 
  American 
  relative 
  

   referred 
  to 
  the 
  same 
  genus. 
  The 
  coconut 
  is 
  

   the 
  sole 
  representative 
  of 
  this 
  group 
  which 
  is 
  

   connected 
  with 
  Asia 
  and 
  the 
  Malayan 
  region, 
  but 
  

   there 
  is 
  no 
  manifest 
  reason 
  why 
  other 
  members 
  

   of 
  the 
  same 
  group 
  could 
  not 
  have 
  established 
  

   themselves 
  there, 
  and 
  maintained 
  an 
  existence 
  

   under 
  conditions, 
  which 
  are 
  not 
  at 
  all 
  unfavor- 
  

   able 
  to 
  them. 
  The 
  only 
  obvious 
  reason 
  is 
  the 
  

   assumption 
  already 
  made, 
  that 
  the 
  distribution 
  

   was 
  brought 
  about 
  by 
  man, 
  and 
  thus 
  only 
  af- 
  

   fected 
  the 
  species, 
  chosen 
  by 
  him 
  for 
  cultiva- 
  

   tion. 
  That 
  the 
  coconut 
  cannot 
  have 
  been 
  im- 
  

   ported 
  from 
  Asia 
  into 
  America 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  

   most 
  obvious 
  conclusion 
  from 
  the 
  arguments 
  

   given. 
  It 
  should 
  be 
  briefly 
  noted, 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  

   known 
  and 
  widely 
  distributed 
  in 
  tropical 
  Amer- 
  

   ica 
  at 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  the 
  discovery 
  of 
  that 
  continent 
  

  

  