22 
FETCH : 
one side and king coconuts yellow) on the other, that is, 
on different inflorescences. 
In 1913 a similar instance was brought to our notice by 
Mr. L. G. 0. Woodhouse. Great interest had been excited 
among the inhabitants of the village of Dambadeniya, North- 
Western Province, by the occurrence on the same coconut 
palm of green and yellow nuts. They declared that it bore 
two different kinds of coconuts, yellow or gon-tembili and 
green or pol. Some bunches bore green fruit only, others 
yellow fruit only, while others bore the two kinds intermingled. 
No information is available as to the colouration of the leaves. 
The specimen bunch sent bore five nuts, three green and 
two yellow. The main stalk of the inflorescence was longi- 
tudinally striped green and yellow. The side branches which 
arose from the green areas were green and bore green fruit, 
while those which sprang from yellow areas were yellow and 
bore yellow fruit. 
Two nuts of each colour were planted. Only two of the four 
germinated, but fortunately one of each kind. The first 
leaves produced by the yellow nut were decidedly yellowish, 
but subsequent leaves became greener, and the plant now, at 
the age of one year, bears leaves which are green with a 
yellow or bronze midrib. Its leaves, however, are a paler 
green than those of the sister plant. At first it v/as notably 
smaller than the other, but the difference has decreased as 
the plants have grown older. It is now not quite as tall, 
and still produces smaller leaves. 
The fruits were narrow and elongated, with well-marked 
angles. The classification of coconuts is in an unsatisfactorj^ 
state, and the native classification depends chiefly on colour and 
shape. Other factors are sometimes recognized, for example, 
the thickness of the shell — a specially thick-shelled nut being 
valued for its use in a native game, in which one player attempts 
to break the other’s nut, as English boys play with horse 
chestnuts. But to what extent these characters are heritable 
and constitute distinct varieties has never been determined. 
The occurrence may, perhaps, be included under the 
assemblage of phenomena known as chlorosis, which is now 
gradually yielding to analysis. As the main stalk of the 
