CHAPTER XXIX 



BEACH AND RIVER DRIFT 



In the south of England. On the coast of Scandinavia. In the Mediterranean. 

 Southern Chile. Very little effective dispersal by currents in temperate 

 latitudes. Cakile maritima. In tropical regions. River drift. River 

 and beach drift of Fiji. Musa Ensete. The coco-nut. River and beach 

 drift of Hawaii. Comparison of the beach drift of the Old and New 

 Worlds. Summary. 



THE BEACH DRIFT OF TEMPERATE LATITUDES 



DISPERSAL by currents seems to be mainly restricted to warm 

 latitudes. Whilst in the tropics seed-drift is abundant on the 

 beaches, in the cooler regions of the globe it is usually very scanty 

 and often masked by other vegetable debris. 



Let us take, for instance, a beach in the south of England. We 

 can find by careful searching amongst the stranded drift the seeds 

 and seed-vessels of various littoral plants of the buoyant group, such 

 as Arenaria (Honckeneya) peploides, Cakile maritima, Crithmum 

 maritimum, Convolvulus soldanella, Euphorbia paralias, &c., and 

 such sundries as bits of stems of Salsola kali bearing fruits ; but 

 their amount is scanty ; and they are often difficult to find on 

 account of the great amount of rubbish with which they are 

 associated, such as empty stones of cherries, plums, and peaches ; 

 empty seeds of grapes ; hazel-nuts, beech-nuts, chestnuts, acorns, 

 all either empty or with decaying seed ; the spiral pods of 

 Medicago ; besides quantities of leaves, sticks, and bark. Although 

 the occasional shell of a Spirula, or the horny skeleton of a Velella, 

 or a genuine pumice pebble (see Note 76), may tell us of long 

 wanderings in mid-ocean, we find little that is not English or 

 derived from neighbouring coasts on a beach in the south of 

 England. I have examined numerous beaches on the coasts of 



