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



examined, a parenchymatous barky layer, that in trees that 

 had fallen for some time was easily peeled off. This barky 

 layer was very curiously pitted ; this pitting was caused by 

 the intrusion into the parenchymatous layer, and piercing 

 through it, of the woody fibres of the stem ; but without illus- 

 trations it would not be easy to explain this structure, and I 

 must therefore reserve it for another occasion. Some of the so- 

 called " bowls " were met with on the mountain-slopes : here I 

 need only add that sections made through both young and old 

 trees revealed no peculiarity of structure in this portion of 

 the stem other than what is met with in almost all palms. 



From an examination of all these forests, I arrived at the 

 conclusion that the growth of the stem depended very much 

 on the soil in which it grew ; and I was pleased at being able 

 to determine this by the following facts. Many nuts have 

 been planted on Isle St. Anne, in different parts of Mah^, and 

 at Silhouette, and the date of the planting of these nuts is in 

 many cases known with great accuracy. Thus Mr. Charles 

 Savi planted some seven or eight at Silhouette in one long 

 row, some twenty feet apart, on the side of a mountain, but 

 only some two or three feet above high-water mark ; the nuts 

 were planted at the same time, in the year 1812. Of these, 

 some six germinated, and for the first year or two grew with- 

 out one showing any great advantage over the other ; now, 

 after the lapse of fifty-six years, three of these trees (two 

 females and one male) measure four feet in diameter at the 

 base of their stem, which is twenty-six feet in height, and they 

 bore their first fruit and flowers in the year 1851, when they 

 were, as nearly as possible, forty years old : the other three 

 are to this day without sterns^ and have borne neither fruit nor 

 flowers. At first, recollecting the result of recent researches 

 into the arrest of development of the axolotl, I thought here 

 might be a similar case among plants ; but on a little investi- 

 gation I found that the thriving Cocos de mer had fallen upon 

 good ground, where they could grow abundantly, and that the 

 others had fallen upon poor, stony soil, where the puzzle was 

 to find from what they did get sufficient food to keep them 

 alive now these fifty-five years. Many other facts like this I 

 could quote; but sufficient has been said to show the danger of 

 drawing conclusions as to the slow growth of trees from their 

 slowness of growth under cultivation : and this leads me to 

 say a few words as to my hopes of introducing these trees into 

 this country. 



I brought with me, in December 1867, to Alexandria, three 

 young trees, about three years old, of this palm. The weather, 

 was too cold at this period of the year to permit their being 



