Fortunate Islands 



light seeds which could be easily carried by the wind, 

 and this is found to be actually the case. 



One might suppose also that those trees which have 

 aeroplane seeds or fruits would also be found on them, 

 but this has been questioned. One of the neatest con- 

 trivances of this kind is found in Shorea, a tree of the 

 Malayan peninsula. According to Mr. Ridley, however, 

 the fruit cannot fly for more than forty yards. As the 

 tree cannot produce fruits until it is at least thirty years 

 old, he calculates that it would take 58,666 years to 

 travel a hundred miles, and must have required about 

 1,500,000 years to get to the Philippines from its present 

 home in Malaya. 



One feels a little doubtful as to whether a hurricane 

 or typhoon might not be trusted to do better than 

 merely carry a winged fruit for forty yards, but the pro- 

 portion of aeroplane fruits and seeds in island floras is 

 not large. Birds, however, assist in carrying fleshy, 

 sticky, and spiny fruits from island to island, and 

 especially those which have hard and indigestible seeds. 

 They have wonderful capacities in the way of swallowing, 

 as can be seen even in Britain by watching a wood- 

 pigeon when dealing with an acorn, and the beautiful 

 South Sea pigeons have probably been of great help in 

 supplying islands with new plants. Migrating birds are 

 said to travel enormous distances. 



A curlew may possibly leave a Scotch moor and 

 eventually arrive at Kimberley in South Africa. 4 The 

 little arctic bluethroat is said to go from Heligoland to 

 Morocco in a single flight without resting anywhere en 

 route. Surely, however, the bird would take the simple 

 obvious precaution of clearing its plumage of all mud 

 and sticky or spiny fruits before starting on a voyage 

 of this kind ? 



But it is the navigator plants of the South Seas that 



278 



