530 



A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC 



Table showing the Buoyancy of the Seeds or Fruits of the 

 Littoral Plants of Fiji, excluding the Grasses, and with 

 ONE exception, THE Sedges {cofitiiiued) 



NOTE 3. (page 13) 



Results of Long Flotation Experiments on the Seeds or Seed- 

 VESSELS OF Tropical Littoral Plants 



At various times during the past twenty years I have made lengthened 

 experiments in England on the buoyancy in sea-water of the seeds or 

 seed-vessels of beach plants collected by me in the Solomon Islands, the 

 Fijis, Hawaii, Keeling Atoll, &c. In all the species enumerated below, 

 the floating powers were retained after twelve months' immersion, the seed- 

 contents being to all appearance unharmed. In six species I succeeded in 

 getting the seeds to germinate after the experiment ; and there can be no 

 doubt that the number of successful results would have been largely 

 increased, if I had not been obliged to resort to very primitive methods 

 in conducting the experiments. Some of the results are referred to in a 

 note to my paper on the flora of Keeling Atoll, dated about 1889 ; and if 

 I remember aright, Mr. Hemsley mentioned those relating to Thespesia 

 populnea and Ipomea grandiflora in the Annals of Botany, not long after. 

 The others have not been previously published. In one instance (C?esal- 

 pinia bonducella) the flotation experiment was prolonged to two and a half 

 years, the seeds floating buoyantly and being apparently quite sound at 

 the end of the experiment. 



