4 



this avoides exposure, creeping out however in the cool higher regions where the sun it less intense. 

 The fronds in young plants are more or less persistent, and, in sheltered situations, often hang pen- 

 dent, densly littering the trunk, till in course of time they decay and fall away. The rachis is asper- 

 ous or prickly at the base, and there are usually a pair of abortive pinnae near the base of the stipites, 

 distant from the lowest normal pair. 



6. C. nigrescens, Jenm. — Stem erect, several feet high, 3-4 in. thick, prickly, the scars rough 

 with decaying fibres ; stipites spreading, strong 1-1| ft. 1. very prickly, dark, scurfy and somewhat 

 scaly ; frondg spreading ; about 6 ft. 1. 3-4 ft. w. tripinnate, coriaceous and stiff, rigid when dry, dark 

 green above, pale or glaucous beneath, costa and costulse rusty-tomentose above, and, with the ribs 

 naked or puberulous beneath, other surfaces naked ; rachis very daik chestnut, or blackish, glossy but 

 puberulous ; pinnae approximate, l|-2 ft. 1. 6-8 in. w. stipitate or sessile, serrate-acuminate ; pinnulae 

 approximate, sessile or the inferior shortly stipitate, the apex shortly acuminate and serrate-entire, 

 2^-4 in. 1. ^-f in. w. fully pinnate at the base, almost as deeply pinnatifid above this ; segments close 

 or the inferior open, sightly curved or not, obtuse or acute, \-\ in. 1 or nearly so, l|-2 li. w. the edge 

 even and rettexed when dry ; veins once forked from the base ; sori at the forking, against the midrib 

 confined to the base or ascending half or two-thirds up the segment ; involucres deep, pale or dark 

 coloured, entire — 0. arborea var. nigrescens, Hook. C. arborea, Sm. in part. 



Frequent and widely scattered in both wooded and open situations from 2,500 or 3,000 ft. to 

 6,000 ft. alt. extending to the central and western parishes ; common where found but not so abun- 

 dant anywhere in numbers as some of the other species. The dead fronds generally hang about the 

 trunk, from which they part slowly, leaving a rough surface. Its different colour — varying, however, 

 in the vascular parts from dark brown to nearly black — rigid texture when dry, entire, even-edged 

 segments and greater prickliness — the spines being particularly sharp — distinguish it from elegant, 

 it» nearest ally, with which, as a variety of £: arborea," it has hitherto been associated. 



7. C. concinna, Jenm. — Stem very stout, rough-surfaced, reaching 15 ft. high ; stipites stout, 

 armed, puberulous-furfuraceous, and sparsely clothed with dark scales at the base ; fronds ample, 

 spreading, bi-tripinnatifid, sub-coriaceous, dark green above, pale or glaucesent beneath ; rachis, costae 

 and costulse light or dark brown, pubescent above, beneath puberulous, costulae and ribs slightly ciliate 

 beneath and sprinkled with minute pale deciduous bullate scales ; pinnae alternate, ft. 1. 2J-3J 

 in. w. sessile, acuminate ; piunulae quite sessile, 1^-2 in. 1. 2-4 li. w. with an entire or serrulate acumi- 

 nate point, lobed or pinnatifid within ^-f to the costules, or the fertile contracted and lobate entire 

 in the inner half or third immediately above the base which is usually normal ; segments oblong or 

 deltoid-oblong, acute, even-edged, about 1 li. w. l|-2 li. 1. from the base, the contracted ones rounded 

 a li. or less each way, the edge often incurved over the sori ; veins simple ; sori forming usually a 

 single row on each side of the costules ; involucres cupshaped, delicate, entire. C. arborea var. con- 

 cinna, Baker. Journ. Bot. 1881. 52. 



Common in forests, of the higher ranges between 5,000-7,000 ft. alt. gathered on the slopes of St. 

 Catherine's peak, and below New Haven liap, where it prevails in great abundance, and elsewhere in 

 the Blue Mountain range. Though the pinna? and pinnulae are of the same relatively reduced size, 

 the characteristic contraction of the final segments is not constant if it occurs at all, in the sterile 

 fronds. It differs from the two preceding by the much stouter and taller trunk, much narrower pin- 

 nae and pinnulae, the latter often contracted and irregularly lobed, and the simple veins, only the 

 basal of which in each segment are fertile. Like lussacii, in the resting season, in late spring or to- 

 ward midsummer, it sometimes drops all its fronds, the large stout trunk, a uniform diameter from 

 top to bottom, standing, post-like, till growth begins again. Mr. Baker ha9 lately in the Annals of 

 Botany referred this to Jamaicensis, but my memory and descriptive notes of it lead me to think it 

 distinct. 



DRIED BANANAS AND PLANTAIN MEAL. 



The following paragraphs, taken from a Report of Mr. W. C. Meaden on the working of the Con- 

 vict Farm in Trinidad, may be useful to those who are thinking of trying this industry in Jamaica. 

 Small bunches can be utilised in this way instead of going to waste. 



Dried Bananas. 



" Drying bananas in the open air proved a failure owing to dust, insects, &c. 



This however has been remedied by the Hot Air Fruit Drier, properly known as the " Etna 

 Pneumatic Drier," and I am happy to report in favor of the good work done by the machine. . . 



The fruit can be dried within 24 hours at a temperature from 130° to 160° ; higher than this the 

 fruit hardens. The drying is done here in the day time and the fire put out at night ; any kind of 

 fuel answers for firing, from patent fuel to cocoa wood chips. The fruit should be as large as possible, 

 and quite ripe, the skin to be removed and the fruit then lightly scraped. Whilst in the drier the 

 fruit to be turned twice or three times carefully to ensure an even drying. . . 



Drying the bananas opens up a way of utilizing the fruit that no other means offers. It overcomes 

 the difficulty of bad roads, remote districts and other drawbacks the planter has to face in getting his 

 banana to market. It also does away with the risk of handling and of the sea voyage. 



Dealing with the first item of the account sales, below, i.e., 97 boxes. This number represents 

 the result of drying 6 bunches, weighing an uverage of 62 lbs. for ripe bunch. A loss of one-third 

 takes place in the peeling and drying process. The 97 boxes contained one pound of dried fruit each, 

 and sold for $19.40 at 20 cents per lb. box, or, after deducting freight charges, $15.47 a fraction under 

 16 cents per lb. 



A bunch weighing 52 lbs. less one-third in drying= 17 lbs. dried fruits and sold for 16 cents per 

 lb. This is at the rate of $2.72 per bunch. A further charge of 53 cents must be considered in pro- 



