566 Cook : A Synopsis of the 



horizontal and in one plane are tilted at different angles to the mid- 

 rib, thus giving the foliage seen in the mass a somewhat unkempt 

 appearance in comparison with the cocoanut. 



In distinguishing the corozo palm from the royal palm when 

 seen at a distance so great that the spines of the one and the 

 columnar green leaf-sheaths of the other can not be seen, recourse 

 may be had to the following facts. The leaf- crown of the corozo 

 palm is much rounder, thicker and more compact than that of the 

 royal palm, since it contains many more leaves, and these persist 

 much longer. The royal palm can also be known by the un- 

 opened leaves which project straight upward like flag-poles or 

 lightning-rods, while in Acrocomia the leaves open as they are 

 pushed out and seldom offer a suggestion of the spire-like effect. 



Acrocomia media sp. nov. 



Trunk 2030 cm. in diameter near the base, thickened above 

 to 50 cm. or less ; height commonly about 68 m. rarely exceed- 

 ing 10 m. Surface of trunk with slight annular impressions. Inter- 

 nodes armed with slender black spines, the larger 1015 cm. long, 

 mostly confined to the lower half of the internodes. Fruit green, be- 

 coming yellowish, the husk firmly fibrous, inedible ; about 35 mm. 

 in diameter, nearly spherical in shape, with a distinct apical papilla. 

 Kernel 25 mm. wide by 22 mm. long; width of the cavity 18 mm. 

 The type specimen was collected near Ponce (photograph no. 255). 



The Acrocomia of Puerto Rico seems to differ from A. aculeata 

 (Jacquin) in its robust habit and somewhat bulging trunk, while it 

 is less stout and less swollen than A. fusiformis (Swartz). The 

 name . Xcrocomia lasiospatha, although used by Martius and Grise- 

 bach has no warrant for supplanting fusiformis of Swartz, which must 

 be preferred for the Jamaica species with the thick, swollen trunk. 



In Jamaica there seem to be at least two species o{ Acrocomia, 

 the larger of which is called the "great macaw" palm, and is de- 

 scribed as having a fusiform trunk as thick as a man's body. 

 What is presumably the same species occurs in Cuba as shown by 

 a photograph from the vicinity of La Gloria on the north coast. 

 The greatest diameter of the trunk is three or four times the thick- 

 ness near the base. In Puerto Rico no trees approximating these 

 proportions were observed, the greatest amount of swelling prob- 

 ably not reaching twice the diameter below. According to Maza 



