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CORRESPONDENCE. 213: 
than two months on their way. I need scarcely add, that Mediterranean and 
illustrious Asa c in arranging for the transmission of copious collections of 
these American seeds. FERD. VON MUELLER 
Melbourne, March 28th, 1869. 
The Cocoa- Nut in Australia. | E 
4 
r. C. Moore, Director of the Sydney Botanical Garden, in a lecture on en- 
Bisse plants, has stated that—* It was somewhat s singular that the Cocoa- i 
the instance mentioned by M‘Gillivray, and from hi ount it would almos 
seem that it had been plan . . The Cocoa-nut Islands surrounded the 
northern portion of the irgend m the nuts had been found by Mr. King 
g the coast; but it was not known that = had ever 
aes took, excepting Whero; a as " oii Bay, they had been planted." 
that at Emu Park,Cawarral, about twenty- 
six miles east of MON on an open sandy flat, within 300 yards of the 
sea, we have a Cocoa-nut growing; its diameter at the butt is eighteen inches, 
o 
gather them by thousands along our coast, and use them as food? Or, was it 
carried where the tree stands now, at the top of a wave during a very heavy sea ? 
The spot is not one a seaman would have chosen as likely, for planting a Cocoa- 
nut, to mark his visit on the Australian shores. Aware of the presence of the 
ocoa-nut-tree on the surrounding islands, he would naturally have supposed 
its existence also on the mainland. Failing to find .. reasonable motive, I may 
be allowed to dismiss the first supposition. The second could have happened, 
under certain conditions; but, again, the nut iem probably have remained 
uncovered, and the chance of a tonc germination diminished. The most 
plausible Ee is the third. By a strong wind and current, a nut could 
carried rapidly from an island, preserve all its vitality, and be buried slightly 
at the end of the waves, under sand and vegetable matter. After a careful 
investigation, I am inclined to think that such was the fact, and that what 
has happened at Emu Park must have also — at different points of 
our very imperfectly botanically-explored co only six years after 
a large population had settled on the basin of = dr sc that "m firet in- 
