446 Petch and Gadd. — The Replacement of the 
probable, if no other explanation of the phenomena observed is available. 
The object of the present note is to record a similar occurrence in Ceylon in 
which the origin of the apparently lateral growth was traced by dissection 
of the plant. 
In March 1922 two specimens of diseased seedling coco-nut palms were 
received from the Galle district. The young unfolded leaves were withered 
and brown, and could easily be pulled out of the sheath. Springing from 
Fig. i. Seedling coco-nut palm with a ‘ lateral’ bud. x-j 1 ^ 
near the base of the stem, however, was what appeared to be a healthy 
lateral bud. A photograph of one specimen as it was received is given in 
Fig. 1. The withering of the central leaves and their easy withdrawal from 
the sheath, owing to a decay of their bases, suggested Bud-rot, but the 
formation of what appeared to be a new bud near the base of the palm was 
an abnormal condition in this disease in Ceylon. 
On removing the external leaves it was found that a hole had been 
bored through the base of one of the young leaves as though by a large 
insect, possibly the rhinoceros beetle. A soft rot had occurred round the 
hole and had spread to the bases of the adjacent leaves. The rot at their 
bases had caused the withering of the leaves, and made it possible to pull 
