38 JOURNAL, BOMB AY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



mention only Anderson, Thwaites, Scheffer, Kurz, Brandis, Trimen, 

 Beccari, and especially J. D. Hooker, who in the Vlth Volume of 

 his " Flora of British India " (1894) gives a concise account of all the 

 palms which had previously been found in India and to which he 

 himself and Beccari were able to add some new species. Lately, 

 Prof. Beccari has enriched the literature on palms by his magnificent 

 monograph on the genus Calamus, and we can only hope that he 

 will be able to continue and finish his great undertaking to describe 

 and illustrate the Asiatic palms. 



In spite of all the labour spent by many scientific men in the study 

 of Indian palms, there still remains much to be done. A great 

 number of species are only partially known ; the knowledge of others 

 is extremely scanty, and there are, besides, a few, of which we know 

 only the name, the original not having been discovered as yet. 



THE PALMS IN GENERAL. 



The Stem. — The adult palm has generally a tall, woody stem, 

 bearing a crown of leaves ; a considerable number, however, remain 

 shrubby and some even have quite the appearance, but nothing save 

 the appearance of perennial herbs. The stems in some species hardly 

 appear above ground, in others they rise to the height of 500 feet 

 (Calamus). It is doubtful whether there exist entirely stemless 

 palms. Not seldom we find in descriptions palms mentioned as stemless, 

 but on closer examination we usually find that the stem is very short 

 and covered all over with the bases of the stalks of fallen leaves and 

 the dense crown of new leaves. In diameter the stems vary from the 

 reed-like Chamsedorea and slender Rattan to the more usual sturdy, 

 pillar -like structure as seen in the Date-palm, Palmyra -palm, the 

 Oreodoxa, the Talipot and many others. While in some the stem is 

 hardly as thick as a goosequill, it measures in others from three to five 

 feet in diameter (Borassus flabellifer, Corypha). The long, slender 

 stems of the Rattans or cane-palms are not self-supporting, but 

 scramble over the surrounding vegetation ; but in most palms the stem 

 exists quite independent of all other plants. 



The trunks of some are almost perfectly smooth, others rough with 

 concentric rings, the scars of the fallen leaves. Many are clothed 

 with a woven or hairy fibrous covering, which binds together the 

 sheathing bases of the fallen leaves ; others are densely beset with 



