FLORA OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND ANDROS 209 



time transported seeds of the plants in question, in mud that may- 

 have adhered to their beaks or feet ? Their presence certainly seems 

 very difficult to account for otherwise. Darwin says (" Origin of 

 Species," chapter thirteen): "I have before mentioned that earth 

 occasionally adheres in some quantity to the feet and beaks of birds. 

 Wading birds which frequent the muddy edges of ponds if suddenly 

 flushed would be the most likely to have muddy feet. Birds of this 

 order wander more than those of any other, and they are occasionally 

 found on the most remote and barren islands of the open ocean; 

 they would not be likely to alight on the surface of the sea, so that any 

 dirt on their feet would not be washed off, and when gaining the land, 

 they would be sure to fly to their natural fresh-water haunts. I do 

 not believe that botanists are aware how charged the mud of ponds 

 is with seeds. I have tried several little experiments, but will here 

 give only the most striking case : I took in February three tablespoon- 

 fuls of mud from three different points, beneath water on the edge of 

 a little pond ; this mud when dried weighed only 6\ ounces ; I kept 

 it covered up in my study for six months, pulling up and counting 

 each plant as it grew ; the plants were of many kinds and were alto- 

 gether 537 in number, and yet the viscid mud was all contained in a 

 breakfast cup ! Considering these facts, I think it would be an inex- 

 plicable circumstance if water birds did not transport the seeds of 

 fresh-water plants to unstocked ponds and streams situated at very 

 distant points." The plants mentioned above are not water plants, 

 it is true, but they are common in moist soil in the vicinity of ponds. 

 The seeds of Pluchea may owe their transportation to the wind. 

 But whatever the means of dissemination, the fact seems established 

 that although the bulk of the Bahaman flora has probably come 

 from the south, there is a contingent, in the northern islands of the 

 group at least, that owes its origin to the north. It is worthy of note 

 in this connection that in a number of cases, when our plants were 

 compared with large series of both Florida and Cuban specimens, 

 they were found to resemble most closely the Florida specimens; 

 hence when species occur in both Cuba and Florida, it may well be 

 that the Bahaman plants owe their origin to the latter. 



Distribution within the Bahaman Group 

 Species found on Andros, 359 



Species found on New Providence, 262 



