1891.] T). Fra.in— The Vegetation of Goco Group. 833 



which seven were bearing. In Narcondam there were in 1891 Coco -nut 

 trees, many of them bearing, in 3 separate bays oa the N. W., N"., and 

 N". E. aspects of the island respectively. These may have been brought 

 from the Coco group by a strong North-East to South- West current that 

 sets down on this island from the neighbourhood of that group, but I an* 

 inclined to think they owe their presence to an act of unrecorded piety 

 on the part of some humane individual who has visited the island, 

 for in the North Bay where the trees are most numerous, there is, just 

 behind the coco-nut zone, a large patch of Plantains which clearly must 

 have been introduced intentionally. 



It should not be forgotten that at some remote period a colony may 

 have been started in the Coco group and then abandoned. It is known 

 that in recent times two such attempts have been made and that both 

 have failed owing to the unhealthiness of the place. It may be that 

 the Coco-nut was intentionally introduced on some similar occasion of 

 which no record has been left. In any case, to speak of the coco-nut as 

 "wild" here, as Mr. Kui-z does (Jour. As. Soc. Beng., xliii, Pb. 2, p. 200) 

 is apt to convey the erroneous impression that the species is here truly 

 indigenous. 



The coco-nut cannot be said to be known in a truly wild state, 

 though it occurs on many uninhabited islands, and its original home is by 

 no means certain. 



The quality of these coco-nuts is little inferior to that of those 

 cultivated at Port Blair and though distinctly inferior to those cultivated 

 in the Nicobars they are much the same as those on Batti Malv where 

 there are no inhabitants. 



America, Polynesia, Malaya, India. 



PANDANB^. 



266. Pandanus odoratissimds Linn. f. 



In all the islands, common on the coasts. 



India, Indo-China, Malaya, Andamans, Nicobars. 



AROIDE^. 



267. Amorphophallus sp. (aff. A. hulhifer). 



Great Coco, common ; Little Coco, occasional. Only leaves and 

 very advanced fruit obtained ; tubers brought to Calcutta have as yet 

 only produced leaves, hxit these leaves are bulbiferous and indicate this 

 as a species nearly related to, but apparently distinct from, both A. 

 hulhifer and A. tuberculiger. 



268. Alocasia fornicata Schott, 

 Great Coco, common. 



India, Indo-China, Malaya, Andamans. 



