NUTMEGS AND MACE 137 



E. Little, in Logan's Journal of the East Indian 

 Archipelago, in 1849, vol. iii. p. 679, seems to me to 

 refer to the same thing, though his account of it differs 

 in some points, and I certainly never saw the disease so 

 bad as he describes it, but what he took for the same 

 disease attacking the fruit -stalk and branches was 

 probably something else. It is clear from his account 

 that the disease was not due to any insect attack. 

 His account is as follows : 



The canker of the nutmeg attacks the fruit, fruit-stalk, and 

 branches. When the fruit is attacked it appears dark-brown 

 over nearly the whole surface, with deep fissures, which pierce 

 the skin to the depth of an J in., and in those parts where the 

 fissures are the colour inclines to a brownish black. The 

 fissures run in all manner of ways, crossing one another like the 

 wrinkles in the palm of the hand. Where these fissures are 

 the skin of the fruit is dry when cut, and presents the brown 

 appearance of the outside for some depth. These parts of the 

 fruit which to the naked eye are merely discoloured, when 

 examined by a powerful Stanhope lens, are proved to be rough 

 and elevated above the natural skin, as if some insect had 

 crawled over it, broken the cuticle, and caused an exudation of 

 the juice of the fruit. On examining a part a little darker in 

 colour, incipient fissures are seen, but which penetrate the cuticle 

 to a very slight extent. These fissures are seen on the flower- 

 stalk and the bark of the branches and stem, which are rough 

 and wrinkled, showing that the whole cuticular structure of the 

 tree is affected. The moment the flower drops and exposes the 

 young fruit, on it can be seen a slight trace of the disease, which 

 increases with its growth, the brown appearance extending and 

 the fissures deepening until the fruit prematurely opens, display- 

 ing the mace, white in most cases, and the nut fully formed, or 

 before that stage arrives the fruit drops off, cut across by the 

 deepening of the disease at the junction of the fruit with its 

 stalk. 



A few of the fruit go on to full maturity, opening with 

 red mace and well-formed nuts. The quality of the nuts does 

 not seem to be affected by this disease, nor generally the 

 healthy appearance of the leaves. Some trees are but slightly 

 affected, the brown patch of the fruit to the naked eye having 

 no fissures, but the cuticle is always rough and wrinkled. The 

 number so affected may be 1 per cent ; the number affected in 

 the severest type with this disease is not more on this plantation 



