266 TlMEHRI. 
thus appears very thick. But in the taller plants, 
in which part of the stem is bare, it is evident that 
the trunk is really slender, especially just above 
the aerial roots, from which point the girth increases 
gradually up to where the trash commences, from which 
point, of course, the girth, or diameter, owing to the 
shuttle-cock-like arrangement of the leaf-stalks, increases 
rapidly up to the tops of the somewhat erect leaves. 
Unlike any other Astrocaryiim known to me, the stem is 
apparently unarmed, for when the leaf-stalks have drop- 
ped away, revealing it to sight, it is found quite devoid of 
prickles. Possibly, however, as the leaf-stalks are so long 
adherent the spines decay before the stem becomes exposed. 
The fruits, which are densely covered with small 
prickles, are probably normally oval in shape; but these 
are so densely set on the main rachis as to alter their shape 
irregularly. The whole spike is, in fact, shaped some- 
what like a pine-apple ; and each of the fruits is forced 
by the pressure of the others surrounding it, into the 
shape of the drupe of the pine-apple. In the mature 
seed, therefore, the upper end — that which was furthest 
from the rachis— is rounded ; but the opposite end — that 
by which it was attached to the rachis — is elongated and 
pointed, the sides between these two ends being flat- 
tened. 
This palm grows, singly, in the forest, in large num- 
bers, on both sides of the Cabalebo river, a tributary 
of the Corentyn, and is especially abundant at the mouth 
of a small creek, called "Grindstone Creek", which runs 
into the Cabalebo. It also occurs on the main Corentyn 
river near Orealla, but on the Dutch side. I have never 
seen it elsewhere in the colony. 
