(4) 



feet in length, with a central dome about 90 feet in height, 

 and wings extending from the main range in such a way as to 

 form a court open to the southwest. The area under glass 

 is about one acre. The building stands on a terrace 5 feet 

 in height, approached by six flights of cut granite steps con- 

 necting with the path and driveway approaches. The house 

 contains fifteen compartments, separated by glass partitions 

 and doors. 



House No. 1 contains palms of numerous species from all 

 parts of tropical and warm regions, both of the Old World 

 and the New. Of West Indian palms, the collection con- 

 tains the royal palm of Cuba and Florida, an elegant plant of 

 the corozo palm (Acrocomia media) of Porto Rico and the 

 Windward Islands; the cocoanut palm, planted in all tropical 

 countries for its fruit and for the numerous uses to which its 

 fiber, wood and leaves are applied; it is not definitely known 

 that the cocoanut palm is a native of the West Indies, and 

 where in the tropical regions it actually originated is uncer- 

 tain. Central and South American palms are illustrated by 

 the delicate Cocos W eddelliana from Brazil, by the silvertop 

 palm (Coccothrinax argentea) , and by the curious Mexican 

 Acanthorhiza aculeata, with spine-like roots on its trunk. 

 Old World species are shown in a very large tree of the 

 Chinese fan-palm, by the date palm {Phoenix dactylifera) of 

 northern Africa, by the very broad-leaved Phoenicophorium 

 sechellarum, native of the Seychelles Islands, and by numer- 

 ous other large species from the Pacific islands. Related to 

 the palms and shown by numerous specimens in this house, 

 we find a number of species of the cyclanthus family, the 

 most conspicuous being the Panama hat plant (Carludovica 

 palmata) , from the young leaves of which the costly Panama 

 hats are made. Opposite the entrance to the court in this 

 house, is a group of bamboos, which belong to the grass 

 family, the most noteworthy of them being the Chinese 

 bamboo {B ambus a vulgaris), whose stems reach into the 

 upper part of the dome ; this plant grows with great rapidity 

 each year by new shoots which come up from under ground, 



