24 THE WEST AMERICAN SCIENTIST. 



sively littoral, but actually grow and thrive equally well inland. More evidence is 

 wanted on this subject, and that is my reason for mentioning it here; but there can 

 be no doubt that the sea has played a most important part in covering the distant 

 cor.il islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans with vegetation, thereby rendering 

 them inhabitable. 



In conclusion, 1 may, perhaps, be permitted to repeat a curious fact concerning 

 the Cocoa-nut, recorded in Mr. O. H. Forbes' book on the Malayan Islands, It is 

 very well known how widely the Cocoa-nut Palm is dispersed on tropical sea-shores, 

 both insular and continental ; and the question has often been discussed how far 

 oceanic currents have been instrumental in effecting this wide distribution. Some 

 writers maintain that it is mainly, if not entirely, due to human agency ; and one 

 argument employed against oceanic agency was that the Cocoa-nut would not germ- 

 inate unless buried. This is very likely correct, as to bare ground, at all events ; 

 but, as I have stated elsewhere, the waves often bury the objects they cast ashore; 

 and Mr. Forbes observed that the burrowing crabs, so numerous in the Keeling and 

 other islands, sometimes perform the operation when burrowing very near the sur- 

 face. — W. Bolting Hensley, in the ^Gardners' Chronicle,' Nov. 14, 1885. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



On Palms. — I have a small plant of Erythea edulis growing and it promises 

 to be hardy here, as during the unprecedented cold weather of January, the like of 

 which has not been experience I by the oldest residents, only the blades were brown- 

 ed and the petioles remained uninjured. I understand also that severe cold and ice • 

 is sometimes seen at xuadalupe Island, its native place. Erythea armata looks to 

 me like Brahea glauca which I have tried here repeatedly without success, as our 

 soil or climate does not seem favorable to it. ***** 



During our late freeze when mercury fell 20*^ and scarcely rose above freezing 

 point at noon for several days, Washingtonia lilifera was scarcely affected, but W. 

 robusta was browned in the blade and the interior structure of the petioles suffe ed 

 more or les^ p"ovin;' the greater susceptibility of the latter to extreme temperature 

 and indicating a more tropical habitat. The po nts of the segments are quite deeply 

 bifid in W. filifera and slit down but little in W. robusta. None of my specimens 

 of robusta were destroyed however and all are comiag on well. Imayaddthit 

 1 rge specim 'US of Latania borboi ica come out with no other injury beyond the 

 browning of the bla les, but Corypha australis suffered mo-e. Phenix dactylifera 

 lost their 1 aves but the buds are still alive and growing. Sabal palmetto and the 

 different varieties of Chamaerops were not affected in the slightest degree. 



In the January number of the 'Rural Calif ornim' it mentions that C D. Comp- 

 ton had returned from a trip through San Gorgonia pass, and visited the palm trees 

 on the east sile of the mountain. T ey are supposed to be a different species from 

 W. filifera and it U stated that the Indians live upon the fruit a part of the year. 



I once had a small specimen of a new species r>f Chamaerops from Lower Ca ifornia 

 grown bj' a northern nurseryman, which exactly resembled C. excelsa. Unfortu- 



