xxxn THE COAST OF ECUADOR 489 



seeds of the vegetable-ivory palm (Phytelephas macrocarpa), the 

 sound seed possessing nc floating power ; the " stones " of Spondias 

 lutea, L., as identified by Mr. Holland, of the Kew Museum ; the 

 empty small nuts of several palms, including, apparently, Oreodoxa, 

 &c. Amongst miscellaneous materials were small gourds, which 

 are referred to in Note 47, and an occasional empty cacao fruit. 

 Smaller seeds were also abundant, and included those of Hibiscus 

 tiliaceus, Erythrina, Vigna, Ipomea, and others. Carried into the 

 river from the neighbouring mangrove-creeks, where they abound, 

 there were floating seedlings of Rhizophora and Avicennia, fruits 

 of Laguncularia often germinating, and the seeded joints of 

 Salicornia peruviana. 



There was of course, in addition, much that was strange in 

 the floating drift of the Guayas River, which received its contri- 

 butions not only from the river-side vegetation and the neigh- 

 bouring mangrove-swamps, but also from the interior mountain 

 ranges culminating in Chimborazo, the slopes of which are drained 

 by its tributaries. I had several opportunities of meeting the 

 drift of the Guayas River in the open waters of the Gulf of 

 Guayaquil. Much of it is carried along the south side of the gulf ; 

 and I picked up at sea, ten to twenty miles from the mouth of the 

 estuary, many of the things above enumerated, such as Erythrina 

 and Mucuna seeds, seeds of Hibiscus tiliaceus, the empty vegetable- 

 ivory seeds, the seedlings of Rhizophora and Avicennia, and the 

 germinating fruits of Laguncularia and Salicornia peruviana. 

 Much of these materials mingled with local drift is stranded on 

 the long beach of Jambeli Island, thirty miles from the mouth of 

 the estuary. Here, besides the seeds of Canavalia obtusifolia and 

 Ipomea pes caprae derived from the locality, I found the seedlings 

 of Rhizophora and Avicennia, and the fruits of Laguncularia and 

 Salicornia peruviana, that might have been in part derived from 

 the adjacent swamps, as well as much of the drift of the Guayas 

 River, such as the seeds of Anona paludosa, Entada scandens, 

 Erythrina, and Mucuna, the small gourds, the same small palm- 

 nuts, the empty seeds of Phytelephas, the " stones " of Spondias 

 lutea, and much other material previously familiar to me, but 

 nowhere a sign of the floating Pistias and of the flowering 

 Pontederia islets of that estuary. 



The Stretch of Dry Coast from the Vicinity of Puna Island 

 to the Equator. This remarkable piece of sea-border, covering 

 nearly three degrees of latitude, and in its aridity and general 

 character recalling the sterile sea-coast of Peru, is placed 



