558 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC 



vegetable debris, sometimes partially concealed by the sand, and containing 

 seeds and fruits in fair quantity. 



The following seeds and fruits were collected : — 



Pandanus drupes, common; most of them fresh-looking, but a few 

 much worn. 



Thespesia populnea, a few seeds. 



Ipomea pes caprce, seeds, fair numbers. 



Ipomea bona nox, seeds, a few. 



Ipomea glaberrima, seeds, a few. 



Argyreia iilicefolia, fruits and seeds, a few. 



Strongylodon lucidum, seeds, a few. 



Ccesalpinia Bonducella, a single seed. 



Vigna lutea, seeds, a few. 



Calophyllum inophyllum, a few fruits. 



Ricinus communis, a few, the seeds either free or in the cocci, and 

 often empty or decaying. 



Aleurites moluccana, seeds, common, none sound, either empty or 

 containing a rotten kernel : also a single fruit. 



One or two seeds not identified. 



There was seemingly a total absence of the fruits or seeds of any 

 littoral plant not found in these islands, such as I was familiar with in the 

 South Pacific. In the mass this seed-drift could have been derived from 

 the neighbouring coasts of the island. This is especially indicated in the 

 cases of the fruits and seeds of Aleurites moluccana, Ricinus communis, 

 and Argyreia tiliaefolia. The sound seeds of Aleurites do not float, the 

 buoyant seeds being always empty, or nearly so ; and the presence of the 

 seeds in beach-drift, as explained on page 4 1 9, is due partly to the buoyancy 

 of the empty seed and partly to the decay of the stranded fruit, the fruits 

 being able to float for a week or two. So, also, the seeds of Ricinus, 

 whether free or inclosed in the coccus, do not, when sound, float longer 

 than a week or ten days. The capsules of the Argyreia can float two or 

 three weeks, whilst the seeds vary in their behaviour, as observed on 

 page 20. I noticed in places where the vegetable dtbris was heaped up 

 and exposed to the sun's heat, that some of the Ipomea seeds were 

 germinating. It is to be remarked that horse-dung and goat-dung are 

 always common in the beach-drift of these islands. Seeds are sometimes 

 to be seen in the stranded material ; and it was evident that the droppings 

 of these animals can float for some weeks before breaking down. ... I may 

 add that large sponges, apparently of no value, are thrown up in quantities 

 on the east side of the Kalae promontory. 



Excepting the pine logs, the only things coming under my notice in 

 this beach-drift that could be characterised without hesitation as non- 

 Hawaiian, were two well-worn pieces of acid pumice, less than an inch in 

 size. One of them was incrusted partially by the tubes of annelids, and both 

 of them had evidently been drifting about in the Pacific for a long period, 



