40 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb, 



A submerged rock, series of rocks, or any inequality wbich 

 tends to raise tbe usual line of bed near tlie water level, whether 

 in ocean, lake, or river, situate within the influence of a current, 

 cannot fail to present an obstruction to the free passage of mate- 

 rial ; as you may glean in a minor form, from observation in any 

 brook or water-course, however small it be. The moving waters 

 impeded on their way, whirl and eddy around the obstacle, sticks 

 and leaves are collected together, sand and earthy matter where- 

 with the water is impregnated, add their mite to the general mass, 

 until a small island is formed, aside, or in mid-stream, which, if 

 undisturbed, will gradually increase until strong enough to resist 

 the force of the element in which it is situated ; seeds are conveyed 

 thither either by currents or foreign aid, and upon the accumula- 

 tion of sand, stick, and earth, generate vegetable productions, 

 which in their turn decay and become vegetable mould, serving 

 to enrich the deposit, and afford nourishment to other plants in 

 rotation. 



If we perceive currents in lake, river, or brook forming depos- 

 its of matter, on their sides or in their midst, why may we 

 not grant the same power to currents in the ocean ? And if this 

 power be granted, which is clear it should, we have only to recog- 

 nize, in the first place, the presence of some inequality of the ocean 

 bed under the spot now occupied by the Bermudas, whether owing 

 to volcanic action or otherwise it matters not ; secondly, a vast 

 accumulation of sand and drift matter thereupon ; and thirdly, 

 the presence of the coral zoophyte to complete a solid fabric to 

 within a few inches of low-water mark. Drift timber and gulf 

 weed (^Fucus natans) then arrested on their course, the latter 

 material by thousands of loads monthly in certain seasons, would 

 help to raise the whole above high-water mark, until sand and 

 shell cast ashore by the waves and blown along the surface, form- 

 ing rounded hills ; sea birds making guano deposits • plants and 

 shrubs springing up from seeds either brought by migratory birds* 

 or carried on the current, would give a stable foundation and a 



* The transportation of seeds by migratory birds has long engaged 

 the attention of naturalists. The case may occur in two ways, either 

 by undigested seeds passing through the body of the bird, or by earth 

 containing seeds adhering to the feet. A wader has been shot in Nova 

 Scotia, having in its crop undigested seeds of the rice of the Southern. 

 States of America. 



