PREFACE 



This paper is a continuation of a previous study of the origin and 

 distribution of the coconut palm, published in volume 7 of these 

 Contributions. Additional historical and botanical evidence has 

 accumulated tending to show even more conclusively than before 

 that the coconut palm is a native of South America, and that it 

 was carried westward across the Pacific in prehistoric times, instead 

 of originating in the East Indies, as De Candolle and other botanical 

 authorities have supposed. 



Frederick V. Coville, 

 Curator of the United States National Herbarium. 



