333 
which seven were bearing. In Harcondam there were in 3891 Coco-nut 
trees, many of them bearing, in 3 separate bays on the N. W., N., and 
N. E. aspects of the island respectively. These may have been bi’ought 
from the Coco group by a strong Horth-East to South-West current that 
sets down on this island from the neighbourhood of that group, but I am 
inclined to think they owe their presence to an act of unrecorded piety 
on the part of some humane individual who has visited the island, 
for in the North Bay where the trees are most numerous there is, just 
behind the coco-nut zone, a large patch of Plantains which clearly must 
have been introduced intentionally. 
It should not be forgotten that at some remote period a colony may 
have been started in the Coco group and then abandoned. It is known 
that in recent times two such attempts have been made and that both 
have failed owing to the unhealthiness of the place. It may be that 
the Coco-nut was intentionally introduced on some similar occasion of 
which no record has been left. In any case, to speak of the coco-nut as 
‘‘ wild ” here, as Mr. Kurz does {Joitr. As. 8oc. Beng., xliii, Pt. 2, p. 200) 
IS apt to convey the erroneous impression that the species is here truly 
indigenous. 
The coco-nut cannot be said to be known in a truly wild state, 
though it occurs on many uninhabited islands, and its original home is by 
no means certain. 
The quality of these coco-nuts is little inferior to that of those 
cultivated at Port Blair and though distinctly inferior to those cultivated 
in the Nicobars they are much the same as those on Batti Malv where 
there are no inhabitants. 
America, Polynesia, Malaya, India. 
PANDANE^. 
266. Pandanus odoratissimus Linn. f. 
In all the islands, common on the coasts. 
India, Indo-China, Malaya, Andamans, Nicobars. 
AROIDE^. 
267. Amorphophallus sp. (a£F. A. hulhifer). 
Great Coco, common; Little Coco, occasional. Only leaves and 
very advanced fruit obtained ; tubers brought to Calcutta have as yet 
only produced leaves, but these leaves are bulbiferous and indicate this 
as a species nearly related to, but apparently distinct from, both A 
hulhifer and A. tuherculiger. 
268. Alocasia fornicata Schott, 
Great Coco, common. 
India, Indo-China, Malaya, Andamans. 
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