CONTENTS. 



Introductory 257 



Current opinions and inferences . 259 



Improbability of Spanish introduction 261 



The cocoa palm in ancient America 263 



Early Spanish accounts 263 



Introduction to Atlantic coasts 266 



American names of the cocoanut 266 



The cocoa palm an American species 270 



Botanical evidence 270 



Prehistoric introduction of other plants 271 



The dissemination of the cocoa palm 273 



Origin of the varieties of the cocoanut 275 



Ocean currents ineffective 276 



Failure of maritime distribution in Australia 278 



Human assistance necessary 280 



The original habitat of the cocoa palm 284 



The direction of the trans-Pacific distribution 287 



Summary of De Candolle's arguments 290 



Conclusions 291 



v 



