O. F. Cook — History of the Coconut Palm in America. 223 



the thick, fibrous husk are to be considered as adaptations for 

 protecting the embryo, assisting in germination, and establish- 

 ing the young plants in the dry climates of interior localities, 

 the only conditions where this palm could be expected to 

 maintain its existence in a wild state. 



The habits of the coconut palm afford no indication that its 

 original habitat was on the seacoast, and none of its closer 

 relatives have maritime habits or maritime distribution. The 

 coconut palm does not appear to be able to maintain itself 

 under littoral conditions without the assistance of man. Though 

 carried by man to all of the warmer parts of the earth, it has 

 not been able to establish itself as a wild plant on any tropical 

 coast, but is always crowded out by other vegetation after 

 human care is withdrawn. 



Wafer's circumstantial account of the existence of large 

 numbers of coconut palms on the Cocos Islands, 300 miles 

 west of Panama, in 1685, taken together with their almost 

 complete disappearance at the present day, affords a striking 

 illustration of the dependence of the coconut upon human 

 assistance, not only for distribution, but for its continued exist- 

 ence on oceanic islands. 



The dissemination of the coco palm along the tropical coasts 

 is to be ascribed to the agency of primitive man, as with the 

 sweet potato, banana, and other domesticated plants which 

 were widely distributed in prehistoric times. The theory that 

 it has been disseminated by ocean currents is gratuitous, 

 unproved, and improbable. 



The development of distinct varieties of the coconut has not 

 been confined to the Polynesian and Malayan islands. Dis- 

 tinct varieties are also to be found in isolated localities in 

 America, such as the Soconusco region of Mexico and the 

 island of Porto Rico. 



The existence of many and diverse varieties in the Malay 

 region does not indicate that the species is native there, but the 

 opposite, since the proximity of the wild stock of a species is 

 likely to hinder the appearance and preservation of mutations 

 among its cultivated representatives. The relative uniformity 

 of the coconuts of America is in accord with the probability of 

 an origin in this hemisphere. The discovery of distinct varie- 

 ties in isolated localities in America accords with the proba- 

 bility that the Malayan varieties have arisen, like other culti- 

 vated varieties, through segregation and mutation rather than 

 by gradual evolution and natural selection. 



Historical Conclusions. 



At the time of the discovery of America the coconut was 

 not confined to the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama, as 



