1842.] Linnean Society. 153 



semblance to a parasitic Conferva. This development, division and 

 growth of cells and reproductive bodies appears, Mr. Hassall adds, 

 to be going on continually and successively, so that most specimens 

 of the plant present examples of each different stage of its formation. 

 These observations lead Mr. Hassall to regard Enteromorpha in,' 

 testinalis as having a twofold relation, viz. to the Confervce in its 

 young articulated filaments, and to the Ulvce in its reproduction from 

 globules which undergo repeated division. He objects to the tauto- 

 logy of the specific name, and proposes that of lacustris in its place. 



Read also the conclusion of Mr. Clark's paper " On the Sea Cocoa- 

 nut of the Seychelles, Lodoicea Sechellarum, Comm. and Labill." 



Mr. Clark's paper contains a complete history of this remarkable 

 palm, on which so much has been written ; but in the following abs- 

 tract only those points are noticed which appear either to have been 

 overlooked, or not to have been sufficiently attended to by former 

 observers. 



Mr. Clark states the Lodoicea to have been completely extirpated 

 on Round Island, and to exist at present in a state of nat\ire only on 

 the Islands Praslin and Curieuse. The few which are found on the 

 other islands of the Seychelles Archipelago have aU been planted, 

 and only two or three of these appear to thrive. The trunk yields to 

 the slightest breeze, and when the wind is moderately strong, the 

 huge leaves are crashed together with an astonishing noise. The part 

 of the trunk immediately above the surface of the ground forms an 

 inverted cone, which is terminated below by an hemispherical base, 

 from whence spread in all directions a great number of cord-like 

 roots, penetrating to a considerable distance around, and having a 

 tough brown bark surrounding a soft internal substance. These 

 roots remain long after the destruction of the plant to which they 

 belonged. In spots that have been burned, or in some of the oldest 

 clearings, where the trees have long since perished and disappeared, 

 a black circle on a level with the surface of the earth indicates their 

 former existence. This is the base of the cone before mentioned, 

 and now forms the brim of a huge bowl, often filled with decayed 

 vegetable matter ; on removing which, the internal surface is found 

 to be pierced by a vast number of holes, forming the openings of the 

 tubes into which the roots have been converted by the decay of their 

 internal substance. Such tubes are generally large enough to admit 

 the end of the fore finger, and are compact and sonorous, but brittle. 



So firmly are the leaves attached to the trunk, that Mr. Clark 

 No. XVI. — Phoceedings of the Linnean Society. 



