WEST INDIAN DRIFT ON EUROPEAN SHORES 37 



since the middle of the eighteenth century. They were mentioned 

 by Strom, Tonning, and Linnaeus; and Sernander observes that 

 they are generally more or less injured. When at Trinidad some 

 years ago the present writer was informed by Dr. Fredholm that in 

 1885 he found three coco-nuts within a space of a hundred yards 

 on a beach of one of the Lofoten Islands, evidently derived from a 

 wrecked or a passing ship. 



There must be numerous references in Danish literature to West 

 Indian seed-drift on the western coasts of Denmark. In Petermann's 

 Mittheilungen for 1877 (XXIII., 316) mention is made of an interesting 

 note by Prof. Erslev on the occurrence there of seeds of Entada 

 scandens and other tropical products which have been brought by 

 marine currents to the shores of Jutland (see the list of works quoted 

 at the end of the chapter). 



The Azores.— The occurrence of West Indian seeds on the beaches 

 of the Azores has long been known. Darwin, who was especially 

 interested in the subject, obtained a number of seeds of Entada 

 scandens and Mucuna urens from these islands and sent them to 

 Hooker at Kew, who referred to the matter in his lecture on " Insular 

 Floras " delivered before the British Association in 1866 (reprint of 

 1896, pp. 15, 28 ; see also Hemsley's Chall. Bot., IV., 291). Speaking 

 of the Azores, Hooker remarked that " the large Bean-like seeds of 

 Entada, a West Indian climber, are thrown up abundantly on the 

 islands by the Gulf Stream, but never grow into plants, if indeed they 

 ever germinate on their shores." These seeds were sown at Kew, 

 and " many germinated and grew to be fine plants, showing that 

 their immersion during a voyage of nearly 3000 miles had not affected 

 their vitality." (The Mucuna seeds are mentioned by Hemsley 

 as above quoted.) 



During my sojourns on the Azores, especially on the north coasts 

 of San Miguel and at the western end of Pico, I paid much attention 

 to this point and obtained the following results. The drift seeds 

 are familiar to the people of the coast towns and villages, and are 

 as often picked up whilst floating off the shores by the fishermen 

 as they are gathered by the children on the scanty beaches. When 

 the purpose of my visit became known in any coast town or village 

 I was usually supplied with several specimens of Entada scandens 

 and of the two species of Mucuna (M. urens and an allied species) 

 represented in European beach-drift. Other drift seeds and fruits 

 are often overlooked or disregarded. Amongst them would be 

 the seeds of Guilandina bonducella. On my displaying a specimen 

 to the people of Magdalena at the west end of Pico they soon brought 

 me a seed which had been found on the beach. The seeds were 

 nearly always sound. 



I searched several beaches and picked up the following fruits 

 and seeds : two sound seeds of Sapindus saponaria, one at Magdalena 

 and the other at Porto Pym (Fayal) ; an empty fruit of Astrocaryum 

 near Magdalena; and a woody fruit, probably belonging to the 

 Juglandea?, on San Miguel. The more conspicuous seeds of Entada 

 and Mucuna are soon found on the beaches by the inhabitants. 

 The seeds of Sapindus saponaria are particularly interesting, since, 



