ON THE DISPERSAL OF. PLANTS, 271 
of this paper that in the Keeling Islands many drift seeds 
and seed-vessels cannot be protected from the crabs, unless 
first covered over with sand by the waves in heavy gales; 
and amongst them we may include the cocoa-nut. 
Regarding the cocoa-nut palms as having been originally 
for the most part confined to the strand of these islands, I 
eome to the consideration of the other vegetation. Through 
the cultivation of the cocoa-nut the original flora of the 
islands of Keeling Atoll is now but scantily represented ; but 
I very much doubt whether any of the trees or shrubs have 
in this manner become actually extinct. ‘Their scanty occur- 
rence, however, is sufficient to explain the fact that I have 
been able to add several new names to the list of littoral 
plants collected by Darwin in 1836 (Ann. Nat. Hist., 1, p. 337, 
1838) and by Forbes in 1878 (Eastern Archipelago, p. 42), 
plants, the absence of which had been previously a cause of 
surprise to me. Notwithstanding. I should have had con- 
siderable difficulty in restoring the original flora of the islands 
of Keeling Atoll if I had had to depend only on the frag- 
ments that yet remain. Fortunately, however, I was able to 
visit North Keeling Island, lying 14 or 15 miles to the 
northward. This small island, which was visited by neither 
Darwin nor Forbes, presents the flora of these islands in 
some parts of its area much as it was before the Ross family 
were established in this group. From its examination, 
assisted by facts supplied to me by the residents, I have 
been able in some measure to give a general idea of the 
vegetation of these islands before they were finally occupied 
by man; but it should be remarked that most of the addi- 
tions to the flora would have been made if I had never 
visited North Keeling Island, the visit to that island having 
been mainly productive in enabling me to form a correct idea 
of the relative proportion and arrangement of the original 
vegetation. 
Neither Van der Jagt* nor Keating,t who described the 
condition of these islands in 1829, allude to the smaller vege- 
tation, and they refer to the prevalence of the cocoa-nut 
palm in such a sweeping manner that, to avoid forming an 
exaggerated idea of the matter, we have to recall the remark 
of Darwin seven years later, that the cocoa-nut seemed at the 
* Verhand, Batav. Genootschap der K., Deel xiii ; Batavia, 1832. 
+ Holman’s 77ravels, vol. iv. 
