107 
high diha] 
or may be only the more elevated parts. 
If “this condition eau before the glacial t imes, the rigors of 
r 
to the lowlands took shelter in protected places and maintained 
not that the plant usually grows in the kind of place less fre- 
quently disturbed by man in his methods of cviliaton, the 
time wou!d be much shortened by artificial agencies. 
ve palm really inhabited “ eid lands to the cede of 
ane not show any inclination 
yn 
a 
3 
9 
to reestablish itself if its: former ae 
nteresting 
facts in the life history of this ee and distlosed: the reasons 
for its non-a iveness. For some reason the inflorescence, 
both staminate and pistillate, is much contracted or congested; 
even the spadix is short and t ower clusters borne close 
o the spadix are hidden in the of les and wool-like 
fibers, together wi ore or less accumulated foreign matter, 
in the crown of leaves. The inflorescence never protrudes, not 
even in fruit, as it does in our other palms. So exaggerated is 
this contraction of the inflorescence, that the es cluster of 
have insufficient material to support growth. We have found 
clusters of fruits, mostly decayed, aa have er) in the crown 
of leaves for at least two years. Under 
the seeds sprout in sit. We have found clusters of two dozen 
young seedlings efanding in ane Coen of eaves: few, if any, of 
them, however, with t o maturity. 
Apparently the only age hey for pence the seeds is that of 
iad seeking the fruits as food, but the chances for distribu- 
n by this method are limited on account of the armament 
onic bristles about the fruit-cluster. 
