222 
BECCARI. 
into a rounded ciliolate small auricle, the central part gradually passing 
into a thick triangular, valvate point. Fruiting perianth slightly accres- 
cent 8 mm. high. Fruit 17-19 mm. long, 6.5 mm. thick, ellipsoid-oblong 
with an acute base, somewhat contracted or rather suddenly narrowed 
below the summit, which is truncate, circular, 3 mm. in diameter, and 
with the remains of the stigmas forming a small blunt mucro in its 
center ; the outer surface of the fruit is dull, of a rather light color 
and finely grained under the lens ; the pericarp on the whole is rather 
thin, the epicarp being thinly crustaceous, the mesoearp formed by 
only two layers of rigid parallel fibers, and the endorcarp also crustaceous 
and very thin, brittle and polished inside. Seed narrowly ovoid with a 
conical and obtuse top and a flat base, 9-9.5 mm. long, 5 mm. thick; 
the branches of the raphis are about 10 erect from the base, of which 
those of the middle pass undivided over the top of the seed and the 
others bend laterally and slightly anastomose on the opposite side. The 
rumination is formed by brown lamellae and does not reach the center. 
The embryo is basal. 
In swampy places along the Sariban River, Palawan; No. 3816, 11. M. Curran 
February, 1906. 
This species seems to be most closely related to A. oxycarpa Scheff., from 
North Celebes on account of its 6-staminate flowers and the size of the fruit, but 
the fruit of A. oxycarpa is equally narrowed and acute at both ends, while in 
A. mammillata the upper end is narrower than the lower one, and terminates 
in a broad discoid mammilate summit. 
Areca Vidaliana Bece. n. sp. 
Gracilis. Folia metralia vel paullo ultra, petiolo subtus rotundato, 
supra canaliculato, marginibus obtusis; segmentis membranaceis utrinque 
8-10, subaequidistantibus, 2.5—4 cm. inter se remotis e basi lata falcato- 
acinaciformibus, 2-3-costulatis et crebre acuteque nervoso-striatis, apice 
acuminato-caudatis, circiter 40 cm. longis, 3-5 cm. latis, duobus termi- 
nalibus 3—4-eostulatis et apice profunde ineiso-dentatis. Flores asym- 
metrice lanceo-lati, acuminati, 3-goni, 3-3.5 mm. longi, staminibus 6, 
ovarii rudimento profundissime 3-partito, staminibus longiori. Fructus 
oblongo-elliptici, 18 mm. longi, 7 mm. lati, utrinque aequaliter attenuati, 
vertice 3 mm. lato, discoido-mammillato et in medio obtuso mueronato. 
Apparently a slender palm about the size of A. mammillata. Leaves 
about 1 m. in length ; the petiole round beneath and somewhat channeled 
above, its margins very obtuse ; the rachis indistinctly ribbed beneath 
along the middle in its lower portion and roundish higher up, not 
very prominently acute above; the segments 9-10 only on each side 
of the rachis, membranous, subequidistant, 2.5-4 mm. apart, broadly 
falcate-acinaciform, about 40 cm. in length and 3-5 cm; in width, very 
slightly or not at all narrowed at the base, very slightly decurrent along 
the rachis, gradually acuminate to a falcate point and besides produced 
into a linear caudate appendage (this 3—4 cm. in length) usually with 
