278 H. B. GUPPY, M.B., 
Keeling Island. However, in August, 1888, I observed two 
young trees, 14 feet high, growing on the shores of the North 
Keeling lagoon. They evidently owed their preservation, as 
Mr. Ross pointed out to me, to the circumstance of the fruits 
having been concealed when germinating by the bed of fine 
drift pumice that had been deposited on the shores of the 
lagoon after the Krakatoa eruption. It is probably owing to 
this, or to some similar accident, such as the heaping up of 
sand over vegetable drift after a gale, that stranded fruits 
and seeds, when they begin to sprout, are ever able to escape 
the notice of the crabs in these islands. Although the fruits 
of both Barringtonia speciosa and Calophyllum inophyllum are 
often washed up on the shores of North Keeling Island, 
neither tree has succeeded in permanently establishing itself. 
On the islands of Keeling Atoll, where these two trees have 
nearly been exterminated to make way for the cocoa-nut 
plantations, and where the few survivors only exist on suffer- 
ance, neither has been able to regain its footing, although 
unfailing supplies of their drifted seeds and fruits are washed 
up on the beaches. 
In truth, vegetable waifs in these islands meet with a fate 
as ruthless as that which used to await shipwrecked mariners 
on the shores of the Pacific Islands. In this work of exter- 
mination the proprietor ably assists the crabs. Thus, to take 
the case of the triangular seeds of Carapa moluccensis, which 
are amongst the commonest fruits of the vegetable drift. 
Although during their lengthy passage to these islands these 
fruits are often attacked by the Teredo and other boring 
molluscs, a goodly proportion arrive in an entire condition 
and often sprout on the beach. Such germinating fruits are 
not only killed off by the crabs, but also by the proprietor of 
the islands himself, to whom the tree is not of any value. 
However, as above remarked, Mr. Ross has sometimes endea- 
voured to give the ocean waifs a chance. His father tried 
to introduce the mangrove into Horsburgh Island, the germi- 
nated seeds of which often occur amongst the vegetable drift. 
But the crabs frustrated his efforts in all parts of the island 
except around the shores of the enclosed lagoonlet where the 
mangrove survived and is still thriving. Reference has been 
made to the circumstance that the sprouting fruits of the nipa 
are always destroyed by the crabs. In consequence, although 
the fruits drift, here in considerable numbers, they have never 
obtained a hold. I have said so much about the exclusive 
dealings of the crabs, that it is only fair to them to add, as 
also pointed out by Mr. Forbes, that they are important 
