284, H. B. GUPPY, M.B., 
mented upon continued to float after remaining during 40 
-days in the water. Six of these seeds were sown out on - 
November 11th, but up to February 20th none had germi- 
nated. It is probable, however, that these small and hardy 
seeds may often drop into the crevices of stranded logs and 
pumice, and be distributed in the manner before described. 
Birds may also aid in their dispersal. There can be no doubt 
that the seeds of a tree so useful and ornamental as Hibiscus. 
tiliaceus have often been carried from place to place by man; 
but we learn from Van der Jagt that in 1829, two or three 
years after its occupation, Keeling Atoll already possessed 
the Waro tree, which is still the name of Hibiscus tiliaceus in 
these islands, as well as throughout a large part of the Indian 
Archipelago. 
We have already seen that Morinda citrifolia is being 
rapidly spread over these islands through the agency of 
fowls, sheep, &e. In all likelihood sea-birds or migrant land- 
birds may sometimes similarly carry these seeds in their 
stomachs and intestines over a considerable expanse of ocean 
to some distant island. Yet these seeds might with equal, if 
not with greater, probability have been transported to this 
group by the ocean-currents. The ripe fruit floats in sea- 
water; but in a few days it begins to rot, and the seeds, of 
which it contains a great number, drop out and float 
buoyantly. Ten of the seeds were placed in sea-water, and 
after 53 days they still floated. They were all afterwards 
sown out at Buitenzorg, and five germinated. Probably 
when Hemsley finds an explanation of the wide dispersal of 
this plant in its varied economic uses, and when Jouan 
prefers to call in the aid of ocean currents (Botany of the 
Challenger), they are both in a measure right, though to the 
agencies of man and of the waves, we should add that of 
birds and other animals. . 
Conspicuous amongst the larger trees that originally occu- 
pied the interiors of these islands, where they are yet 
scantily represented, were Hernandia peltata and Pisonia 
(inermis?), It seems strange that the former tree should 
have escaped the notice of previous observers. It grows very 
rapidly, and a fine specimen is now to be seen over the grave 
of a British commodore buried 50 or 60 years ago in South 
Island. The marble-like seeds of the Hermandia continued 
to float after remaining 42 days in sea-water: of those 
experimented on, five or six were sown out and one germi- 
nated. The spiny and glutinous seeds of the Pisonia, accord- 
ing to Forbes, often prove fatal to the herons and boobies 
