196 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXVI. 



The Apple-nut of the Solomon Islands. — At various times 

 peculiar vegetable formations, shaped like moderately sized 

 apples, of a blackish-brown colour on the outside and excessively 

 hard, have been found mixed with the coal used for the locomo- 

 tives on the Victorian Railways, and their occurrence was 

 recorded in this journal in May, 1906, vol. xxiii., page 4. They 

 seem at first sight like the fruit of some palm, and had probably 

 been in the hold of the ship which brought the coal to Melbourne. 

 However that may be, specimens were sent to me for identifica- 

 tion, and there are also specimens in the National Museum and 

 at the Museum of Economic Botany, Melbourne Botanic 

 Gardens. It is named at the latter Museum Sclerosperma 

 manni, H. Wendl., a palm found in tropical Africa, and commonly 

 known as Mann's Ivory-Nut Palm, while Mr. R. H. Walcott, of 

 the National Museum, received the name from another authority 

 as Metroxylon vUiense, Benth. and Hook., a palm belonging to the 

 Fiji Islands. As it was desirable to have this matter cleared up, 

 especially when specimens were displayed in public institutions, 

 a sample was forwarded to the Director of the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, who courteously replied " The palm-nut sent for identi- 

 fication is apparently that of Metroxylon amicarum, Hodg." In 

 the Kew Bulletin for 1897 there is an account of these nuts 

 under the heading of Ivory Nuts in a report on the British 

 Solomon Islands, and the references there to prices in Sydney 

 show that these nuts are articles of commerce, and no doubt had 

 been carried as cargo in the ships which afterwards loaded with 

 coal. The report states that "These nuts are the fruit of a palm, 

 Metroxylon amicarum, one of the sago-yielding palms. The 

 species is, I believe, peculiar to the Solomons, and grows wild 

 throughout the group in inexhaustible quantity. The nuts are 

 exported as vegetable ivory, and are used for making buttons and 

 similar small articles. Some years ago I made inquiries in 

 London as to the market for these nuts, and ascertained 

 that they were known in the trade as ' apple-nuts,' and that three 

 Birmingham firms occasionally used them. I was informed that 

 the chief objection to them was the hollow core through the 

 middle, and their reluctance to take a black dye. More went to 

 Germany and Vienna than to London. About three years ago 

 the price of these nuts suddenly jumped from about ^3 a ton in 

 Sydney to £,\2, at which price a considerable quantity were sold, 

 and the market probably overstocked. Their value has now 

 relapsed to about ;^5 a ton in Sydney, at which figure there 

 seems to be a good demand. The sudden inflation in value was 

 due, as I was informed, to the demand of a Vienna firm, who 

 used a considerable quantity for making the wheels of roller 

 skates." It may be remarked that the vegetable ivory of 

 commerce is the white seeds of an almost stemless palm known 

 as Phytelephas macrocarpa. — D. McAlpine. 



