286 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC chap. 



The species of Sun-dew, Drosera longifolia, hitherto found only 

 on the marshy tableland of Kauai at an elevation of 4,000 feet 

 above the sea, occurs both in Asia and North America. Its 

 minute fusiform seeds are very light in weight, and might readily 

 become entangled in a bird's plumage, or they could be carried in 

 adherent dried mud. 



Luzula campestris, which grows on the high mountains of the 

 Hawaiian group from 3,000 feet upward, is also found in Tahiti. 

 It is widely distributed in cool latitudes, and there is no special 

 indication of its source. Its seeds are especially well suited for 

 adhering to birds' feathers. When experimenting on these seeds 

 in 1893 I ascertained that whether freshly gathered or kept for 

 more than a year they became on wetting coated with mucus, and 

 adhered firmly to a feather on drying. There are many ways in 

 which the " sticky " seeds in wet weather might fasten themselves 

 to a bird's plumage. The plant-materials might be used, for 

 instance, for making nests. The Sea Eagle (Aquila albicilla), as 

 we learn from Mr. Napier {Lakes and Rivers), uses materials 

 deriv^ed from Luzula sylvatica in the construction of its nest. 



Nertera depressa, a creeping Rubiaceous plant, with red, fleshy 

 drupes containing two coriaceous pyrenes, is found in all the 

 Hawaiian Islands at elevations of 2,500 to 5,000 feet, and it grows 

 on the mountains of Tahiti at altitudes over 3,000 feet. The 

 genus is widely diffused over the southern hemisphere. This 

 particular species is characteristic of the Antarctic flora, being 

 found all round the south temperate zone (excepting South Africa) 

 in New Zealand, Fuegia, the Falkland Islands, and Tristan da 

 Cunha, and extending up the Andes to Mexico, occurring also on 

 the summits of Malayan mountains at elevations of 9,000 to 

 10,500 feet above the sea, as on Pangerango in West Java 

 (Schimper), and on Kinabalu in North Borneo (Stapf). Captain 

 Carmichael, who resided on Tristan da Cunha in the early part of 

 last century, states {Trans. Linn. Soc, xii, 483) that its drupes are 

 eaten by a species of thrush and by a bunting. Professor Moseley, 

 who visited the island in the Challenger many years after, remarks 

 that its fruits are " the favourite food of the remarkable endemic 

 thrush, Nesocichla eremita," the bunting being Emberiza brasiliensis 

 {Bot. CJiall. Exped., ii. 141). It would seem most likely that the 

 Hawaiian Islands received this representative of the Antarctic flora 

 through the Tahitian Islands, as in the case of the species of 

 Cyathodes common to both these groups. 



Looking at the indications of these four widely ranging plants, 



