-934 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol XXI. 



to the top. This groove is nothing else but the folding inwards 

 of the first leaf, which composes nearly- the entire thickness of 

 the stem. If it be cut across, it will be found to enclose the inner 

 leaves in a small oval pipe about ^ inch in thickness. 



When these dantalas are about 9 to 12 months old, they have 

 usually two leaves just issuing from the siirface. These are from 

 1-1^ inches in breadth, and from 2^-3 feet in length, having onlj- 

 four or five folds in each leaf. When the leaves issue from the 

 ground, no part of the stem is seen, but a succession of leaves goes 

 on, increasing in breadth and thickness, for 6 to 7 years. The 

 stem close to the ground is then perhaps as stout as ever it will be ; 

 indeed in many cases stouter, as these trees harden and compress 

 by age. (Ferguson.) 



Growth of Palmyras. — On this subject we refer to : 



Jackson, A. B. — The rate of growth of Palmyras, Indian Fores- 

 ter, Vol. 35, p. 394. 



Lushington, A. W. — The growth of Palmyras. Ibid., A^ol. 

 35, p. 573, Vol. 36, p. 362. 



Hole, R. S.— The growth of Palmyras. Ibid., Vol. 35, p. 632. 

 Habitat. — A native of tropical Africa. Cultivated in the 

 Indian Archipelago, the Trans-Gangetic Peninsula, Ceylon, South 

 and Central India, Bengal and Lower Sind. In North-West India 

 -as far north as Aligarh and Shahjehanpur. Isolated trees in 

 -gardens in Rohilkhand and the Upper Ganges, Doab, as far as Sa- 

 haranpur. Also on both sides of the Persian Gulf, attaining there 

 ■about the same latitude as in North-West India, i.e., 30° N. L. 

 Immense groves of it are found on the Malabar coast, extending 

 from Cape Comorin through Travancore, Calicut, Goa, and the 

 Bombay Presidency, on through Gujarat and up some distance on 

 the banks of the Indus. But what are emphaticall}^ called the 

 Palmyra regions maj- be included in a line extending along the 

 Coromandel coast from Cape Comorin to Madras including the 

 northern portion of Ceylon and from Madras all along, taking in 

 a considerable belt of the coast between that and Point Palmyras, 

 a.nd then passing up to Gya on the 85th degree of E. L. and 

 nearly 25° of N. L. After that the line should be carried on about 

 due east until it reaches Ava, below which on the banks of the 



