WEST INDIAN DRIFT ON EUROPEAN SHORES 29 



April 1912, corresponds with the drifting into these latitudes from 

 the southern waters of the North Atlantic of large quantities of 

 Physalia (Portuguese men-of-war) and other pelagic organisms. 

 Dr. Orton in Nature, February 27, 1913, observes that during March 

 and early April 1912, numbers of Physalia were cast on our shores 

 at various points between Cardigan Bay and Seaford in Sussex, 

 and that together with Velellce others were washed up at the same 

 time on the coasts of France. (With respect to the Velellce a French 

 naturalist is cited.) At the end of March 1912 I noticed " Portu- 

 guese men-of-war " stranded in quantities on the beaches of South 

 Devon between Start Point and Bolt Tail. On showing some of 

 them to persons in the habit of crossing Salcombe Harbour daily, 

 I learned that these creatures had been recently observed sailing 

 up the harbour in small fleets. Their condition on the beaches 

 indicated that whilst some had been beached only for a day or two, 

 others had been lying there for a week or more. Dr. Orton regards 

 this extensive incursion into our latitudes of the surface organisms 

 of southern waters as the result of the almost continuous high 

 southerly to south-westerly winds in the south-eastern part of the 

 North Atlantic in the early part of the year. 



There was a similar invasion of our seas by southern pelagic organ- 

 isms in the early part of 1913. Commander Campbell Hepworth, 

 in a paper in the Geographical Journal (November and December 

 1914), quotes from Dr. Orton's letter in Nature, and adds on the 

 authority of Dr. Allen that Physalia occurred on the south coast of 

 England in February, March, and April 1913. No West Indian 

 drift seeds were noticed by me on the south coast of Devon in this 

 connection; but early in January of that year after a long period 

 of strong south-westerly winds I found an abundance of the horny 

 skeletons of Velellce on a beach near Salcombe. During the first 

 two or three days of January 1916 an enormous number of Velellce 

 were piled up on the beaches of South Devon, east and west of Sal- 

 combe, in the living state. The spectacle was unique. Commander 

 Hepworth refers to the occasional presence " especially off the west 

 coast of Ireland, but seldom off Devon and Cornwall " of lanthina 

 (Violet Sea-snail) and Velella. However, lanthina often came under 

 my notice as a boy on the Cornish beaches. The association in this 

 paper on the Gulf Stream of the indications of the pelagic organism 

 with those of the thermometer and hydrometer endows it with 

 special value for the student of dispersal by currents. 



On the beaches of South Devon one occasionally finds Pea-nuts 

 (Arachis hypogcea), half-eaten ears of Maize, Coco-nuts, etc., evidently 

 thrown over from ships approaching the English Channel, besides 

 other fruits and seeds, the origin of which is uncertain. Thus on 

 May 16, 1911, two large Sapotaceous seeds, 2 J inches in length, 

 were picked up by me on Rickham and Moor Sands beaches near 

 Salcombe. Dr. Rendle tells me that a specimen sent to him pre- 

 sumably belonged to Lucuma, the species being doubtful. From 

 a comparison with seeds in my collection of Lucuma mammosa, the 

 familiar Mammee-Sapota of the West Indies, it is evident that the 

 drift seeds do not belong to that species, though similar in size. 



