'20 i'LANTS OF MAST HEAD ISLAND. 



tomentosa, Ahutilon muticum, Sesuviiim portnlacastrum , 

 Trihulus cistoides, Tournefortia argentia, Ipomcea Pes- 

 caprae, I. Turpethum, Boerhaavia repanda, Euphorbia atoto. 

 As an interesting sidelight on the growth of know- 

 ledge on this point, it is worth while noting an article by 

 Charles Moore on the flora of Lord Howe Island, read before 

 the Royal Society of X.S.W., and published in their Trans- 

 actions of the year 1871, in which he frankly expresses 

 his disbelief in the agenc}^ of ocean currents except in the 

 case of such fruits as the cocoa-nut. 



Several sj^ecies are stated to have the advantage 

 of two methods of transport. The seeds of Cassytha are 

 found in the crops of carpophagous birds and are also 

 said to be conveyed by ocean currents. The same applies 

 to the seeds of many grasses. 



Some seeds are unquestionably transported in earth 

 adhering to the roots of trees, sent adrift by storm or flood, 

 and which find a resting place on the beaches of islands. 

 The amount of timber seen in the drift zone at Mast-Head 

 was remarkable. The island is celebrated for its multi- 

 tudes of birds, and by their agency some of its plants must 

 have been introduced. Birds are usually credited with 

 the transport of the inland portion of an island flora. In 

 dealing with so small an island, the term inland flora, 

 in contradistinction to the drift zone and the strand area, 

 seems a little incongruous, and except that at Mast-Head 

 the Pisonia trees were found in the centre, and Casuarinas 

 on the shores, no rigid demarcation should be made. Among 

 the fruits eaten and dispersed by birds may be mentioned, 

 in addition to Cassytha and the grasses, Ficus (two species) 

 and Solarium nigrum, but for want of fuller knowledge on 

 this subject, I do not care to add to the list. Banfield* 

 has compared Pisonia Brunoniana to the fabled Upas tree 

 because the viscid substance coating its seeds is comparable 

 to birdlime and it ensnares and occasionally causes the 

 death of small birds. So many insects perish in the gummy 

 envelopes that BanP.eld asks whether it may not be to the 

 advantage of these seeds to have animal matter present 

 to assist them in germinating. J. A. Leachf refers to the 



*" Confessions of a Beachcomber," p. 207. 

 t" An Australian Bird Book," p. 36. 



