The palm whose seeds are used instead of ivory for a variety of small carved articles is a native of Central America and New Grenada. The consumption of them in this country, as well as in France and other parts of the Continent, is now believed to be enormous. The imports into Britain are stated to be worth £100,000 a year, and Birmingham is said to consume as much as a ton weight in a single day. The necessary result is that an eager demand has sprung up for new sources of supply of a similar material. The true vegetable-ivory palm being limited to a restricted district of the new world is not available elsewhere. But other hard-seeded palms will doubtless be tried, and the following have already come under our notice:

1. Hyphæne kernels.—

These have been imported into Liverpool from S.W. Madagascar as a substitute for vegetable-ivory, for which they seem little fitted. They appear to be yielded by Hyphœne crinita, with which Dr. Kirk identifies II. natalensis and H. petersiana. It is described as "a low palm bearing nuts with a sweetish rind, tasting like the locust bean, carob, or St. John's bread, and from which a spirit is distilled." The extension of this genus of palms, so characteristic of the flora of tropical Africa into Madagascar, is not less interesting than the presence of the Adansonia already mentioned.

2. Raphia seeds.—

The seeds of a palm which agree closely with those of Raphia Hookeri have been imported into Liverpool to be crushed as an oil-stuff. The quantity obtainable was, however, too small for this purpose, and the importer proposed to use the nuts for carving, for which they probably proved too soft, besides wanting uniformity of texture. They were stated to come from page 50 Liberia under the name of Taqua nuts. This is a name belonging to the true Ivory-nuts of S. America (Phytelephas macrocarpa), which is now likely to be applied indiscriminately to any palm seed hard enough to be carved.

3. Sagus seeds.—

The seeds of another palm appear within the last year to have found their way into commerce in considerable quantity from the Friendly Islands as a vegetable-ivory substitute. This is the Sagus amicarum, Wendl., the seeds of which have the shape and dimensions of a medium sized apple. The resemblance is still more complete if the core has been supposed to be scooped out by an opening at the bottom, the seeds of this Sagus having a considerable hollow cavity in the centre.

Amongst the collections of the Challenger expedition Mr. Moseley sent home seeds of another species of Sagus from San Christoval, one of the Admiralty Island group. This is probably a distinct species from S. amicarum, the surface of the seeds being marked by rounded ribs running longitudinally from the central depression on the upper surface, while the opening into the internal hollow cavity is almost closed up.

The Fiji Islands which intervene between the Solomon and Friendly groups contain yet a third species of Sagus, the S. vitiensis, Seem., the seeds of which are yet smaller than either of those mentioned above. Whether they have been tried as a vegetable-ivory substitute I am unable to say.