44 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



Double Cocoa-nut (Lodoicea sechellarum), measuring about four feet 

 in circumference, is probably surpassed by no other fruit hitherto 

 discovered. 



In the seeds we observe a similar variety in size and shape. In 

 fruits which contain only one seed it is generally more or less rounded, 

 as in the Cocoa-nut ; in the Date it is long and narrow. In fruits with 

 three seeds, it often becomes flattened on two sides and rounded on 

 the outer in consequence of mutual compression. 



The point on the testa from which well-marked vascular bundles 

 radiate, shows the position of the raphe or chalaza. The inner 

 integument of the ovule is, in some genera, much thickened along the 

 course of these bundles and becoming greatly increased during ripen- 

 ing, grows into the endosperm and produces the characteristic 

 appearance in section known as ruminate. This can be seen in the 

 Betel -nut. Within the thin, fibrous seed-coat there is a copious 

 endosperm which holds embedded in some part of its circumference 

 the minute cylindrical or conical embryo. The endosperm may be 

 comparatively soft, the cells containing a considerable amount of oil 

 and proteid (Cocoa-nut), or it may be hard (Date), or occasionally 

 mucilaginous. 



Geographical Distribution. — There are about 1,100 known species 

 of palms which are distributed among 131 genera. They form a 

 monocotyledonous order, essentially characteristic of the tropical 

 region (cf. Map A.). Chamcerops humilis is the only native of 

 Europe ; it is a Mediterranean species which occurs in Southern 

 Spain, Italy, and Greece. . The monotypic genus Nannorhops which 

 is indigenous on the Himalayas extends through Afghanistan and 

 Baluchistan to south-east Persia. " Of the Chinese-Japanese region, 

 only the east-coast, as far as Korea and the south of Japan, shows some 

 representatives of this order. A few small genera are peculiar to the 

 Southern United States and California. The Chilian genus Jubsea 

 extends to the 37th parallel, while in the eastern hemisphere the 

 southern limit is 41° S. Lat. in New Zealand. The great centres are 

 tropical America and tropical Asia. The order is represented in 

 Central America by 7 genera, in the West Indies by 5, and extends 

 southwards as far as Chili. In tropical Asia it covers the Indo- 

 Malayan region, Borneo, New Guinea and Australia, always within 

 the northern and southern limits indicated above. In tropical Africa 



