Ill 
NUTMEGS AND MACE 
137 
K. Little, in Logan’s Journal of the East Indian 
Archipelago, in 1849, vol. iii. p. 679, seems to me to 
refer to the same thing, though his account of it differs 
in some points, and I certainly never saw the disease so 
bad as he describes it, but what he took for the same 
disease attacking the fruit -stalk and branches was 
probably something else. It is clear from his account 
that the disease was not due to any insect attack. 
His account is as follows : — 
The canker of the nutmeg attacks the fruit, fruit-stalk, and 
branches. When the fruit is attacked it appears dark-brown 
over nearly the whole surface, with deep fissures, which pierce 
the skin to the depth of an in., and in those parts where the 
fissures are the colour inclines to a brownish black. The 
fissures run in all manner of ways, crossing one another like the 
wrinkles in the palm of the hand. Where these fissures are 
the skin of the fruit is dry when cut, and presents the brown 
appearance of the outside for some depth. These parts of the 
fruit which to the naked eye are merely discoloured, when 
examined by a powerful Stanhope lens, are proved to be rough 
and elevated above the natural skin, as if some insect had 
crawled over it, broken the cuticle, and caused an exudation of 
the juice of the fruit. On examining a part a little darker in 
colour, incipient fissures are seen, but which penetrate the cuticle 
to a very slight extent. These fissures are seen on the flower- 
stalk and the bark of the branches and stem, which are rough 
and wrinkled, showing that the whole cuticular structure of the 
tree is affected. The moment the flower drops and exposes the 
young fruit, on it can be seen a slight trace of the disease, which 
increases with its growth, the brown appearance extending and 
the fissures deepening until the fruit prematurely opens, display- 
ing the mace, white in most cases, and the nut fully formed, or 
before that stage arrives the fruit drops off, cut across by the 
deepening of the disease at the junction of the fruit with its 
stalk. 
A few of the fruit go on to full maturity, opening with 
red mace and well-formed nuts. The quality of the nuts does 
not seem to be affected by this disease, nor generally the 
healthy appearance of the leaves. Some trees are but slightly 
affected, the brown patch of the fruit to the naked eye having 
no fissures, but the cuticle is always rough and wrinkled. The 
number so affected may be 1 per cent ; the number affected in 
the severest type with this disease is not more on this plantation 
