90. 
middle of the frond are Set i used and the shorter ones discarded. 
West African Rafia, to replace the Madagascar fibre, must be as long as 
possible, with a width of about j to 3 in., but none less than 4 in 
If the Bamboo palm (Raphia shaper does not afford the best 
material for Rafia strips, it is possible some other — may do so. 
The West African Raphias so far known are as follows : 
— Raphia vinifera, Beauv. — Bamboo palm. Abundant in West i Africa, 
extending also to central tropical Afri rica, where it, was 
Schweinfurth. Its distribution in Lagos is thus described by Sir ‘Alfred 
Moloney ( Kew seat 1891, p. 3) :-- 
“The ‘Bamboo’ palm (Raphia RE is perhaps the commonest 
tree in the swamps ome low lands w ne the waterways of the 
colony, see? thickets of these e traverse only by the palm- 
wine gatherer or the. bamboo cutter, push their way into the lagoons, 
and extend e um flood grounds, and even ^ a distance of from 1 
to — up the river-valleys into the interior. The area occupied by 
sea coast. Over i oe sta about. ooo square € they form a 
considerable prop sion of t next UA in numbers. to the 
vis. Panton an ‘the N [angrove a mucro- 
e fact that one can steam for mies, as I have Mite ns 
ea uninterrupted Raphia impresses one 
extent of the acreage which must be phase by this graceful vals" ge the 
Haphia Hookeri, Mann and Wendl.—The Ukot of Old Calabar, 
where it is cultivated as a wine palm. The natives also Ier 
cloth from the epidermis of the leaflets. On the Sherboro, in Sierr 
Leone, they make hamniocks from it, as well as all sorts of basket work: 
mats, &c. This is one of the largest of the Raphias, the whole plant 
often attaining a height of 70 feet. The fronds are 40 feet long, with 
leaflets 4 to 5 feet long. If in other respects eei this should yield 
Rafia fibre as fone as the best from Madagasca 
Raphia heath i, M. and W Apparent conte to the Spanish 
Island of Fernando Po, in the Gulf of Guinea. It grows from. the 
shore up to 500 "feet above the level of the sea 
Raphia longiflora, M. and. W.—The only pem given. = Mann 
or this. species is the island of Corisco, off the French Colony. of 
Galion: This palm is 40 to 5 O feet high, with fronds 33 feet long. 
The leaflets are 5 to 51 feet ares and 2 to 24 in. wide, A figure, 
showing the aad habit, is given in Trans, Linn. Soc. xxiv., t. 39. 
Raphia Welwitschi, Wendl.—AÀ new iiid colleeted by Dr. Wel- 
witsch, in Angola. It grows in humid places on the rivers in the in- 
teri ially in the distriet of daduse. epidermis of the 
leaflets is u the natives in the of cloths, &e. 
manufacture 
AR. textilis, Welw. Apont., 584, n. 2, yielding also — filaments; is 
apparently a closely allied plant 
Epidermal strips, somewhat similar to Rafia, are available from 
many species of CUm notably the Cocoa-nut palm and the Palmyra 
palm. Specimens of these aro in the Kew Museum. A variety of the 
. Palmyra palm, hinder in various districts under the native names of 
.. Morintshi, Kelingoos, Run, and Sibboo, is well known to be abundant 
in West Tropical Africa. - "The epidermal strips f. from the segments of its 
