298 H. B. GUPPY, M.B., 
observed in all conditions, from the green state to the dry, 
yet this does not affect the importance of their occurrence, 
seeing that it is of interest to ascertain not only what seeds 
and fruits have come from distant regions to any particular 
island, but also the manner in which such seeds and fruits 
start upon their ocean journeys, and the locahty from which 
they may have been transported. Itis probable enough that 
many of the familiar seeds and seed-vessels of the vegetable 
drift of tropical seas lie for some time on the beaches, in the 
vicinity of whieh the parent trees are growing, before 
unusually high tides, or the seas of a heavy gale, sweep them 
off into the ocean. This preliminary stage of preparation, 
though not always necessary, gives the fruit or seed a better 
chance of being drifted across a wide expanse of sea. It is 
in this manner that the fruits of Zerminalia Catappa, Ochrosia 
parviflora, Cerbera odollam, Guettarda speciosa, and many 
others lose their outer fleshy covering before they commence 
their ocean voyage. In fact in some cases, as in the instance 
of Cordia subcordata, it is, as I have before shown, almost 
essential that the seed should first lose its outer skin; other- 
wise it rots in the salt-water. 
There are, however, some of the seeds and fruits occuiring 
amongst the vegetable dirift on the beaches of the south 
coast of West Java, that almost certainly have been derived 
from more distant islands. Take, for instance, the triangular 
seeds of Cdrapa moluccensis, which I have found on these 
beaches with their interiors hollowed out and occupied by 
the empty tubes of the Teredo: it is in this condition that 
these seeds usually occur amongst the drift of the Cocos- 
Keeling Islands. 
The following is the list of drift seeds and fruits pieked up 
by me on the south coast of West Java, as determined at 
Kew :—Calophyllum inophyllum, Linn; Heritiera littorals, 
Dryander; Carapa moluccensis, Lam.; Pometia eximia, Hook, 
f.; Mucuna macrocarpa, Wall.; Mucuna . gigantea, D.C.; 
Mucuna, sp.; Pongamia glabra, Vent.; Entada scandens, 
Benth.; Terminalia catappa, L.; Cerbera odollam, Geertn ; 
Ipomea biloba, Forsk ?; Quercus, spp.; Aleurites moluccana, 
Willd; Excecaria indica, Muell-Arg.; Pandanus, sp; Crinum 
(asiaticum?) . . . It is to be noticed that of the 17 
dritt seeds and fruits here named, 14 occur in my list of the 
seeds and fruits stranded on the Keeling Islands, the excep- 
tions being those of Pometia eximia, Pongamia glabra, and 
Crinum (asiaticum ?). 
My paper is now brought to a close. In it I have omitted 
