We present observations of diffracted Sv (SVd) for a path between the Fiji-Tonga islands and the eastern coast of North America at distances greater than 110¿. Observed features of S diffracted suggest that coupling between SVd and SHd can be ruled out as a first order effect for this path. Arrivals of SHd are late relative to IASP91 travel-times by about 10 s, and those SVd are late relative to SHd by 3 s, for most records. The slope of the log(SVd/SHd) spectral ratio is around 3Hz-1 in the range 0.06-0.15 Hz. A transversely isotropic low-velocity layer in the lower-most mantle with a thickness of 200-300 km may account for most of the observed properties of SVd. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995