(110) 
partments, separated by glass partitions and doors, as shown 
on the accompanying plan. 
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 those native in the southern United States 
there are noteworthy specimens of the palmetto (Saba/ Pal- 
metto), and of two Florida thatch-palms (ZZrznax). The char- 
acteristic fan-palm of the California desert, Veowashingtonia 
robusta, is illustrated by two fine plants. Of West Indian 
palms, the collection contains the royal palm of Cuba and 
Florida, an elegant plant of the corozo palm (Acrocomia 
media) of Porto Rico and the Windward Islands; the cocoa- 
nut palm is now 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 uncertain. Central and 
South American palms are illustrated by the delicate Cocos 
Weddelliana 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 numerous other large species 
from the Pacific islands. Related to the palms and shown 
by numerous specimens in this house No. 1, we find a number 
of species of the cyclanthus family, the most conspicuous 
being the Panama hat plant ( Car/udovica palmata), from the 
young leaves of which the costly Panama hats are made. 
The sago palms, or cycads, are illustrated here by large 
specimens of Cycas revoluta from Japan, by Cycas circtnalis 
from the Molucca Islands, by Cycas media from Australia, 
by the small coonties from Florida, and by the Kafir bread 
(Encephalartos), two species from Africa; the stems and 
trunks of plants of this family contain much starch, which is 
extracted, in the countries where they grow, by crushing and 
