Let us now consider the contents of the individual houses, and, 

 that they may be referred ' to readily, take them up in the order 

 of their numbering. To facilitate the handling of crowds, and 

 to prevent confusion in the inspection of the collections, it has 

 been found necessary to adopt the rule of keeping to the right. 

 Visitors are requested to observe this rule. 



House No. i. 



In this house will be found the greater part of the palms, the 

 Palmaceae ; the sago-palm family, the Cycadaceae, more nearly 

 related to the ferns, however, than to the palms ; the cyclanthus 

 family, the Cyclanthaceae ; and a portion of the grass family, the 

 Poaceae, often known as the Gramineae. 



The great preponderance of the palms gives to this house the 

 name of the palm-house. A consideration of some of its features 

 will be found in an illustrated article in this Journal for January, 

 1903, entitled, "The Palm Collection." 



The palm family, Palmaceae, numbers about 1,100 species, 

 widely distributed in tropical countries, with a few extensions into 

 temperate regions. They are most fully represented in America, 

 less numerously in Asia and Australia, and are rare in Africa. 

 They are of great economic importance to the inhabitants of the 

 countries in which they grow, and many of their products, either 

 crude or manufactured into articles, are of world-wide use. 



Near the south entrance, on the right hand side of the walk, 

 will be found a specimen of the cabbage palmetto of our own 

 southern States, Sabal Palmetto. This represents the form with 

 the old leaf-sheaths still persisting, which give to it an appearance 

 quite different from the older state of the tree, shown by a speci- 

 men a little further along to the left, in which these have fallen 

 away, exposing the naked straight trunk. This palm is extremely 

 plentiful in some parts of Florida, especially along the line of the 

 East Coast Railway, south of Jacksonville, where groves made up 

 of many thousands of them occur. It is also found in the Bahamas. 

 Nearly opposite to this is a tall plant of the Panama silvertop 

 palm, Coccothrinax argentea, which, as indicated by its common 

 name, comes from the Isthmus of Panama. The under surface 



