300 H. B. GUPPY, M.B., 
pelago, though it is probable that sea-birds have assisted in 
the process. 
(6.) Since this paper was written, Mr. Hemsley has 
removed my difficulties concerning the transportal by 
currents of such small seeds as those of Portulaca oleracea and 
Suriana maritima, which seem ill fitted for this end. They 
may be carried in the seed-vessels attached to the floating 
plant or branch. 
Mr. Hemsley has very kindly read the proof of this paper, 
and has made some suggestions and corrections; but I am 
entirely responsible for the opinions and conclusions it con- 
tains, and of course I cannot expect assent on all points. He 
has ascertained for me that the stranded seed of a species of 
Crinum (asiaticum ?), which I picked up in a germinating con- 
dition on the coast of Java in January, 1889, has developed 
into a healthy plant a foot high at Kew (January, 1890). 
NOTE ON THE PLANTS REFERRED TO IN THE EARLY 
ACCOUNTS OF THE KEELING ISLANDS. 
From the accounts of these islands given by Van der Jagt,* Keating,} 
and Ross,t all of which were written in either 1829 or 1830, only two or 
three years after the establishment of the settlement, and some six or 
seven years before the visit of Mr. Darwin, it is evident that amongst the 
vegetation found by the first settlers on these islands there were several 
littoral trees, some of which were observed by Mr. Darwin, whilst others, 
owing to the shortness of his visit and on account of their probable 
paucity, were not recorded. I have marked with an asterisk those which 
are not to be found in Mr. Darwin’s list: they are characteristic coral 
island plants, and they are still, though scantily, represented. 
*Barringtonia speciosa. “A large tree with a square nut of about 6 
inches in diameter and rusky on the outside” (Ross). 
Hibiscus tiliaceus. “The Waroe or Warroo” (Ross and Jagt). This 
is a common Malay name for this tree in the Indian Archipelago, and the 
Keeling Islanders still only know it by this name. Its ornamental and 
useful purposes are noted, such as supplying fibres for fishing lines and 
nets, &e. 
*Thespesia populnea. “A tree like the Waro, growing near the shore” 
(Ross). 
* See footnote on the second page of this paper. 
+ Holman’s Travels. 
t Gleanings in Science: Calcutta, 1830. Also Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc., 
vol. i, 1831. Mr. Ross carefully distinguishes the indigenous from the 
introduced piants. 
