March 28, 1918] 



NATURE 



(2) These laboratories throughout the country are 

 igaged on work of the greatest importance both for 



ivilian medical practice and for the maintenance of 

 Jie health of the Navy and Army. 



(3) The Food Controller is authorising laboratories 

 uiy licensed by the Home Ofifice under Act 39 and 40 

 ictoria, cap. 77, to obtain supplies of any rationed 



1 tide on production to the supplier of a certificate 



signed on behalf of a laboratory to the effect that they 



are necessary for the purposes described above. In 



'ue course special order forms will be issued to such 



Uoratories for this purpose. Committees should also 



->ist such laboratories in obtaining necessary supplies 



t unrationed foodstuffs in case they experience diffi- 



iLilty in securing them. 



(4) A statutory order will shortly be issued by the 

 linistry of Food exempting from the provisions of 



I' Food Cpntroller's orders the use of grain and other 

 ujodstuffs in any such licensed laboratories for the 

 maintenance of animals or for the preparation of 

 l.iboratorv materials. 



LHE PALMS OF SEYCHELLES AND THE 

 MASCARENES. 



SINCE the publication, just forty years ago, of Dr. 

 I. B. Balfour's elaboration of the palms in J. G. 

 Baker's " Flora of Mauritius and Seychelles," there has 

 been considerable botanical activity in the islands of 

 the Indian Ocean. Cordemoy's "Flore de I'lle de la 

 Reunion" appeared in 1895, and many novelties have 

 been discovered, especially in Mah^, and published; 

 but no addition has been made to the number of 

 genera and species of palms inhabiting this insular 

 region. Nevertheless, a number of interesting facts 

 have come to light, partly through Prof. Stanley Gar- 

 iner's published notes, partly through various 

 (Hectors' notes, and especially through Mr. P. R. 

 Oupont's direct communications. Mr. Dupont, it 

 should be explained, has been for many years curator 

 of the Botanic Station at Mahe, and has thoroughly 

 explored that island and more or less the rest of the 

 Seychelles group, famous for its peculiar palms. The 

 following table shows the composition and distribution 

 all the palms of the islands of the western Indian 

 '.'•an. excluding those of Madagascar: — 



With possible exceptions in Madagascar, the genera 

 named in this table are restricted in their natural dis- 



NO. 



2526, VOL. lOl] 



tribution to the islands and groups of islands named, 

 and the Seychelles species and two out of three of the 

 Rodriguez species are endemic, while the five Bourbon 

 species are common to that island and Mauritius. 

 Lodoicea and Latania are dioecious, and belong to the 

 tribe Borasseas, which is restricted to the African 

 region in a broad sense, and comprises only two other 

 genera, namely, Borassus, the palmyra, and Hyphaene» 

 to which the characteristic branching palms of Africa 

 belong. The rest of the genera in the table are all 

 referred to the large, and generally dispersed, tribe 

 Areceae. Palms constitute the most striking feature in 

 the vegetation of Seychelles, especially of the 

 principal island, Mahe, where five out of the six 

 species were formerly more or less abundant, and still 

 persist in plenty. Lodoicea, the coco de mer, or double 

 coconut, does not occur in a wild state in Mah6. 

 Travellers have differed in opinion as to in which of the 

 islands it is really indigenous, but trustworthy evidence 

 points to Praslin, Curieuse, and Round Islands. A 

 statement to this effect, by J. Harrison, appears in 

 the Botanical Magazine for 1827, in the text to plates 

 2734-38. There is the further statement that this palm 

 was "growing in thousands close to each other, and 

 the sexes intermingled." Mr. Dupont communicates 

 independent testimony to the existence of local evidence 

 confirming this record. In favourable situations the 

 double coconut attains a height of 100 ft., or occasion- 

 ally even more. 



Little is on record of the general distribution in the 

 islands of the palms of Seychelles ; but Dupont 

 furnishes the following particulars of their altitudinal 

 distribution in Mah^ : — 



Nephrosperma 0-300 m. j Acanthophoenix 0-750 m. 

 Stevensonia 150-600 ,, Verschaffeltia 150-750 ,,^ 

 Roscheria 600-900 ,, | 



He also distinguishes three zones of the predominating 

 palms in Mahe : — 



Zone of Stevensonia grandifolia ... 150-300 m. 

 Zone of Verschaffeltia splendida ... 300-600 ,, 

 Zone of Roscheria melanochaetes ... 600-900 ,, 



These palms constitute a striking feature in the 

 vegetation of Seychelles, especially that of Mah6, 

 where they are associated with other singular endemic 

 types belonging to various families. In stature and 

 foliage they conspicuously overtop most of the other trees, 

 with an average height of the live species of 45 to 

 65 ft,, and extreme heights of Acanthophoenix nobilis 

 of 80 to 120 ft., and of the magnificent Verschaffeltia 

 splendida of 80 ft. All these palms are, or have 

 been, in cultivation in the United Kingdom, but are 

 rarely seen on account of their large dimensions and 

 heat requirements. But characteristic paintings of all 

 these palms are to be seen in the Seychelles sec- 

 tion of the north gallery at Kew, together with many 

 other of the endemic types of the archipelago. It 

 may be worth mentioning here that some confusion 

 has arisen in consequence of the local misuse of the 

 terms male and female of the double coconut. This 

 palm is really dioecious, and the large fruit is usually 

 either two- or three-lobed, the two-lobed being named 

 female and the three-lobed male ! The presence of so 

 many endemic palms in a small insular flora is almost 

 unique in the geographical distribution of plants. 

 Lord Howe Island, situated about 300 miles off the 

 coast of New South Wales, presents the nearest ap- 

 proach to a parallel, supporting, as it does, four 

 endemic palms belonging to three different genera, 

 two of which are peculiar to the island. The pro- 

 fusion and elegance of these palms excite the admira- 

 tion of all who see them. Of the Howe palms, 

 Kentia belmoreana is one of the very best for 



