CURRENTS OF THE ATLANTIC 73 



across the Caribbean Sea and by the Gulf of Mexico to Florida. 

 The length of the passage is about 2000 miles, and the indications 

 are that about 160 days would be required for its accomplishment. 



The distribution over the West Indian region of the seed-drift 

 brought by the Main Equatorial Current is well exemplified by the 

 disposal of its bottle-drift as described on p. 61. After depositing 

 5 per cent, of its burden on the shores of the Guianas, it leaves 31 per 

 cent, on Trinidad and Tobago and on the neighbouring Venezuelan 

 coasts, and 26 per cent, on the islands of the Lesser Antilles, chiefly 

 in the south, only 2 per cent, reaching the Bahamas. The remainder 

 (36 per cent, of the total) breaks through the islands and passes into 

 the Caribbean Sea, more than half being thrown up on the south 

 coasts of the Greater Antilles and on the shores of Central America, 

 whilst the survivors, after passing through the Straits of Yucatan, 

 are stranded on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and on the Florida 

 coasts. 



The mingling in the Caribbean Sea of drift brought by the North 

 and Main Equatorial Currents is well exemplified in the remarks 

 above made. Whether brought by the one current or by the other, 

 the drift, after it enters this sea, has the same distribution on the 

 south coasts of the Greater Antilles, on the shores of Central America 

 and of the Gulf of Mexico, and on the Florida coasts. But the 

 mingling of the drift begins off the Atlantic coasts of the Lesser 

 Antilles and in the southernmost of those islands. In the first case, 

 the Antillean Stream, referred to on a previous page, commences the 

 mixing process in its north-westerly course towards the Bahamas. 

 In the second case, although the island of Barbados usually divides 

 the main streams of the two equatorial currents, there is not infre- 

 quently an overlapping of the currents in its vicinity with, as the 

 result, an intermingling of their drift in the southern islands of the 

 Lesser Antilles. 



The meeting in West Indian waters of seed- drift brought by these 

 two great equatorial currents from the North and South Atlantic 

 is a matter of great interest for the student of plant distribution. 

 It is a subject that attracted the attention of Dr. Schott when dis- 

 cussing the bottle-drift data of this region (p. 11). The importance 

 of this fact is obvious. Whilst the North Equatorial Current brings 

 to the West Indies the sweepings of the Atlantic seaboard of 

 North America, and of Southern Europe and North-west Africa, 

 through the respective agencies of the Gulf Stream and of the Portu- 

 guese or North African Current, the Main Equatorial Current carries 

 to the same region the sweepings of both sides of the South Atlantic, 

 from tropical West Africa, South-west Africa, Brazil, and the 

 Guianas. 



The Burden of the Main Equatorial Current. — This current 

 bears westward not only drift from the shores and great rivers of 

 tropical Africa, but also drift which it has received from the South 

 African Current. This current has previously swept the shores of 

 South-west Africa, and has caught up drift brought across by the 

 South Atlantic Connecting Current from the Brazil Current on the 

 other side of the ocean, materials derived from the Rio de la Plata 



