March 27, 1890] 



NA rURE 



493 



grandfather of the present proprietor,, and coco-nut 

 planting was progressing. Since then most of the avail- 

 able ground has been cleared of other vegetation and 

 planted with coco-nut trees, so that the wild vegetation 

 is nearly limited to an external fringe, and this often 

 broken. In North Keeling, about fourteen miles distant 

 from the main group, which was not visited either by 

 Darwin or Forbes, there was still sufficient of the original 

 vegetation left for Dr. Guppy to form an idea of what it 

 was generally before it was cleared away for cultivation. 

 Darwin's investigations had the effect of arousing the 

 interest of Captain Ross in the natural history of the 

 group, and this interest has been inherited by his de- 

 scendants, who have greatly aided subsequent travellers 

 by their hospitality and by their knowledge of local 

 phenomena. Darwin collected or noted about a score of 

 different species of wild plants, and this number has now 

 been doubled by Forbes and Guppy. 



This brings us to the results of Guppy's own investiga- 

 tions, the most interesting and important being those 

 relating to the capabihties of certain plants, notably the 

 coco-nut, to establish themselves on coral islands, as 

 some writers of repute have strongly contested the possi- 

 bility of it, and there can be little doubt that the coco-nut 

 and other plants having large seeds obtain a footing only 

 under exceptional circumstances, such as being buried by 

 the sands washed over them in heavy gales. 



Foreign coco-nuts are frequently cast ashore on the 

 Keeling Islands, where they sometimes germinate, but 

 the crabs invariably destroy the sprouting nut. Suppose, 

 however, a period when crabs were less numerous, and 

 the chances are not so very remote of some of the 

 growing nuts escaping them. Again, Mr. Forbes cites 

 an instance in which the crabs may even facilitate the 

 establishment of the coco-nut, for he observed that the 

 crabs sometimes burrow so near the surface that the nuts 

 occasionally break through and find favourable condi- 

 tions for growth. Should they escape the crabs in their 

 earliest infancy, they are safe. Many other plants are 

 now prevented by the crabs from establishing themselves 

 on the Keeling Islands. Dr. Guppy says : — 



" I have been informed by the proprietor that some- 

 times when a large amount of vegetable drift has been 

 stranded on the beach, a line of sprouting plants may be 

 shortly observed just above the usual high-tide mark ; 

 but the tender shoots are soon eaten by the crabs, and in 

 a little time every plant is gone. Many of the seeds that 

 germinate on the beach are beans, varying in size from 

 those of Entada scandens downward. They form one- 

 third of the vegetable drift." 



Indeed, the crabs are so numerous that Mr. Ross has 

 failed in many attempts to raise plants of some of these 

 things in his garden. One flourishing Entada scandens 

 and a sickly Calophyllum Inophyllum were all the 

 reward of much trouble in this direction. The huge 

 square fruits of Barringtonia speciosa are often thrown 

 up, and the seed germinates, but very few escape the 

 crabs. This tree had not established itself in North 

 Keeling, though in August 1888, Dr. Guppy observed two 

 seedlings about eighteen inches high, and they owed their 

 preservation, it was supposed, to the circumstance of the 

 fruits having been concealed when the seeds germinated 

 by the bed of fine drift pumice that had been deposited 

 on the shores of the lagoon after the Krakatao eruption. 



Particulars are given of the incipient germination and 

 early destruction of Carapa, Nipa, Cycas, and other 

 seeds. Of course, the clearing of the original vegeta- 

 tion and subsequent cultivation, and the incidental or 

 intentional introduction of various birds and animals, 

 and the migration of the myriads of sea-birds that 

 formerly inhabited the islands must all be taken into 

 consideration. Yet no species of plant ever known to 

 grow wild there has become quite extinct, an evidence of 

 their tenacity of hfe under unfavourable conditions. 



Dr. Guppy's additions to the Keeling flora include the 

 following plants, which he regards as having formed part 

 of the original vegetation, judging from the conditions 

 under which he found them : Calophyllum Inophyllum, 

 Thespesia populnea, Triunifetta subpabnata, Suriana 

 maritima, Canavaliaobtusifolia, Terminalia Catappa, Bar- 

 ringtonia speciosa, Sesuvium Portulacastrum, Ipomcea 

 grandiflora, I. biloba {I. pes-caprcc), Premna obtusifolia, 

 and Hernandia peltata. Their general distribution fully 

 justifies this deduction. 



The experiments on the vitality of seeds after forty to 

 fifty days in sea-water were necessarily of a limited 

 character, but they established the fact that the following 

 germinated : Cordiasubcordata, Hernandia peltata, Gtiet- 

 tarda speciosa, Thespesia populnea, Sccevola Koenigii, 

 Morinda citrifolia, and Tournefortia argentea. Every 

 seed of the last named germinated after forty days', and 

 half of the seeds of Morinda after fifty-three days' immer- 

 sion. Dr. Guppy calculates that a surface current of 

 only one knot an hour would convey drift a distance of 

 loco to 1200 miles during these periods. From the fact 

 that almost all the drift is thrown up on the eastern and 

 southern coasts, it is assumed that the bulk of it comes 

 from the Malay Archipelago, and perhaps some from the 

 north-west coast of Australia. This is borne out by the 

 general distribution of the established Keeling plants, as 

 well as by the other seeds and fruits that are stranded 

 there. 



Among the latter may be mentioned Patigium edule, 

 Heritiera littoralis, Erythrina indica, Mucuna spp., 

 Dioclea reflexa, CcEsalpinia Bonducella, Cerbera Odollam, 

 Quercus spp., and Caryota. 



Carpophagous pigeons have played no recognizable 

 part in the flora of the Keeling Islands. 



In his forthcoming book Dr. Guppy will doubtless give 

 all the details of his observations in a more connected 

 and systematic form. 



W. BOTTING HEMSLEY. 



NOTES. 



To-DAY the honorary freedom and livery of the Turners 

 Company are to be conferred on Sir John Fowler, K.C.M.G., 

 and Sir Benjamin Baker, K.C.M.G., "in recognition of their 

 distinction and eminence as engineers, earned by many great 

 works at home and abroad, especially the design and construction 

 of the Forth Bridge, one of the greatest triumphs of British 

 engineering in the Victorian age." 



Sir John Kirk, F.R.S., and Sir William Turner, 

 F.R. S., Professor of Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh, 

 have been elected members of the Athenaeum Club, under the 

 rule which provides for the annual election of a certain number 

 of persons of distinguished eminence in science, literature, or 

 the arts, or for public services. 



Mr. T. Kirke Rose, Associate of the Royal School of 

 Mines, has obtained the appointment of Assistant Assayer at 

 the Royal Mint, by competition among selected candidates. It 

 is a post of some importance, and the salary rises from £'^$0 to 

 £^S^t with an official residence in the Mint. After an unusually 

 briUiant career at the Royal School of Mines, Mr. Rose was 

 engaged as metallurgist and assayer to the Colorado Gold and 

 Silver Extraction Company in Denver. It is to be hoped that 

 he will afford valuable assistance to Prof. Roberts-Austen in 

 preserving the standard fineness of our coinage with the remark- 

 able degree of accuracy that generations of assay masters have 

 attained. 



Sir Henry Roscoe has introduced into the House of 

 Commons a Technical Education Bill, which is intended to 

 clear up any doubt as to the legality of the provision of technical 



