Distribution of Plants. 527. 



c6asts of Peru, the first vegetables that prepare the mould for 

 others are the succulent plants; the leaves of which, provided 

 with an infinite number of orifices and cutaneous vessels, 

 deprive the ambient air of the water which it holds in solu- 

 tion [see Gard, Mag., vol. viii. p. 234-.] : fixed in the crevices 

 of volcanic rocks, they form, as it were, the first layer of 

 vegetable earth with which the currents of lithoid lava are 

 clothed. Wherever these lavas are scorified, and where they 

 have a shining surface, as in the basaltic mounds to the north 

 of Lanzerota, the unfolding of vegetation is extremely slow, 

 and many ages may roll away before shrubs can take root. 

 It is only when lavas are covered with tufa and ashes, the vol- 

 canic islands lose that appearance of nudity which marks their 

 origin, and deck themselves with a brilliant vegetation. 



In the Southern Pacific, the unceasing labours of the minute 

 zoophytes are continually raising the banks of coral above the 

 level of the sea : and here we see displayed the progressive 

 increase of vegetation, and the surprising manner in which, as 

 soon as the coral ridge emerges beyond the washing of the 

 spring tides, it becomes clothed with vegetables, and at length 

 adapted to the residence of man. The coral worms, which, 

 by their astonishing labours, raise up islands from the waves, 

 are of various shapes; the common form is that of a star. 

 They are furnished with arms 4 in. or 6 in. long, which they 

 are continually moving up and down, probably in search of 

 food. They can only proceed with their labours while the tide 

 washes over them, and cannot raise the reef beyond low water 

 mark ; but the fragments of rock, sand, coral, &c., adhere to 

 the rock, and form a solid mass with it, as high as the common 

 tides reach. That elevation surpassed, the future remnants, 

 being rarely covered, lose their adhesive property, and, remain- 

 ing in a loose state, form what is usually called a key upon 

 the top of the reef. The new bank is not long in being visited 

 by sea-birds; salt-loving plants take root upon it; and a soil 

 begins to be formed : a cocoa nut, or the drupe of a Panddnus 

 [screw pine] is thrown on shore ; land birds visit it *, and de- 



* Disscvimation of Plants by Birds. — In 1824, Robert Hurnard, a Quaker 

 gentleman, and two of his sons, visited England, from the State of Dela- 

 ware, in North America, and brought with them seeds of some of the 

 trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants native to, or cultivated in, that State. 

 Mr. Hurnard and sons visited some friends at Bury St. Edmunds ; and, 

 while there, inspected the botanic garden of that town ; and shortly after- 

 wards, through the hands of their friend, and, I believe, relative, Mr. Samuel 

 Fennell, a subscriber to the garden, they imparted to it a portion of these 

 seeds. Amongst them was a packet, inscribed " Wildgoose beans. The 

 seeds from which the enclosed were raised were found in the stomach of 

 a wildgoose which was shot about 300 miles from land, two years since.'* 

 The beans were kidneybeans ; and, on being sown, developed plants, to 



