396 D. Prain — The Vegetation of the Coco Oroup. [No. 4, 



that have pulpy fruits with a hard stone or with hard indigestible seeds. 

 It cannot, however^ be held to include all these, for though birds do eat 

 the pulpy part of the fruits of Ganarium, Spondias and Draconto'nielum, 

 the stones of these are too large to be swallowed ; probably therefore 

 some other mode of dispersal must be held accountable for the presence 

 in these islands of species of those genera. For Bracontomelum intro- 

 duction by the sea has been suggested, though doubtfully ; the others 

 are left, with some reluctance, among the " remanent " species. There 

 are other species for which this agency is only doubtful, such as Miliusa, 

 the fruits of which do not look very inviting — some polyalthias are, 

 however, so dispersed, e. g., P. longifolia by frugivorous bats ; Physalis 

 minima might well enough have been introduced in this way, but is, all 

 things considered, more probably sea-introduced ; some of the Con- 

 volvulacece may also have been thus introduced. Moreover it must not 

 be forgotten that indirect introduction in this way is not impossible. 

 As has been pointed out, some of the fruit-eating pigeons are ground- 

 feeding creatures, and if a sticky pulpy fruit should fall into a patch of 

 Oplismemis, Panicum, Aneilema, or other small-fruited or -seeded herba- 

 ceous ground-species, the seeds or fruits of these may become attached 

 to the fruits in question and, if then swallowed unnoticed by a fruit-eat- 

 ing bird, be voided uninjured along with the stone or seeds of the fruit 

 itself and subsequently germinate. The subjoined table gives a list of 

 all the species probably directly introduced; the indirect method, as 

 being too hypothetical for discussion here, is not mentioned in connection 

 with any particular species. 



As in the case of species introduced by wind the occurrence of 

 species of this kind in the islands of Narcondam and Barren Island is 

 given ; these being islands for which it is necessary at the outset to 

 exclude from consideration any hypothetical " remanent " element.* 



* This part of the list is not so complete as it might be, since owing to the 

 pressure of other duties the writer has not yet been able to complete the examination 

 of the species collected by him in those islands in April 1891. This much may be said, 

 that all the species quoted as occurring there do occur. But many of the others 

 though not present are represented by nearly allied species and by species of this 

 kind. There is for example at least one Greivia in Narcondam, there are several 

 Riobiacece and there is an Amorphophallus. In Narcondam too there is a species of 

 Strychnos, while a species of Eugenia is common in Barren Island. These two isolated 

 localities therefore pi'esent two genera, with species that have fruits of the kind now 

 discussed, of which no representatives were met with in the Coco Group. Similarly 

 Batti Malv, equally isolated, and quite uninhabited, has an Alangium and a Datura; 

 it may therefore be repeated that this list by no means overstates the possibilities of 

 the agency in such a locality as this. 



