Dr. E. P. Wright on Lodoicea sechellarum. 341 



once accepted the invitation, and prepared to spend two or 

 three weeks on Praslin. As we glided gently through the 

 passage in the coral-reef that runs along the eastern coast of 

 Praslin J the first object that met my view was a clump of the 

 Lodoicea sechellarum ; there were four or five trees, growing 

 erect and to a height of about forty feet, from between a mass 

 of granite boulders quite close to the sea-shore. 



To study the structure of this noble palm-tree, to find out 

 all I could about its life-history, to ascertain the probable rate 

 of growth of its stem, the duration of its flowering period, and 

 to bring back with me to Europe young growing plants were 

 some of the chief objects of my visit to this group of 

 islands. 



For centuries the history of this palm had been involved in 

 mystery; its strange-shaped nuts had been now and then 

 found washed ashore on the Maldive Islands or floating about 

 on the sm'face of the Indian Ocean ; but its native country, or 

 what kind of tree it was that produced such nuts, was 

 unknown. Tradition said it was a production of the sea. 

 Rumphius believed in tradition, and assures us that it is not 

 the product of a terrestrial plant that had fallen into the sea, 

 but a veritable marine fruit ; and sailors who never heard of 

 Rumphius told strange stories of the tree itself growing be- 

 neath the salt water, with large bunches of the double cocoa- 

 nuts hanging from its branches ; but when they would dive 

 to gather the nuts, the nuts and the tree and all would disap- 

 pear. Of course, if this were true, there was little chance of 

 the double cocoa-nuts becoming common ; and so the few that 

 were found floating were sold for very enormous prices ; those 

 that landed on the Maldive Islands were the property of the 

 king, who had a very severe law of ^^ treasure trove," by which 

 it was enacted that the person finding these nuts and not 

 bringing them to the king should be put to death. 



The discovery of the Seychelle Islands by Captain Lazare 

 Picaults, of the ' Elisabeth,' despatched on a voyage of discovery 

 from the Isle of France by M. Mah^ de Labourdonnais, set 

 the question of the native country of the double cocoa-nut at 

 rest, and determined the fact that they were the products of a 

 gigantic palm-tree. Sonnerat, in his ' Voyage to New Guinea,' 

 gives a description of this tree, which he found on Praslin. 

 Commerson described it in MS. under the name of Lodoicea ; 

 and La Billardiere, in the 'Annales du Museum d'Histoire 

 Naturelle,' gave a botanical description of it, accompanied by 

 figm-es drawn from spirit specimens of the fruit, and a draw- 

 ing of the tree from nature by M. Lilet. M. Qu^au de Quincy 

 appends to this paper some remarks on the economic value of 



