112 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



(bastard tamarind), and Swietenia mahogani (mahogany), and in 

 Cuba it has the same associates in the open forests that grade into 

 the savannah formation. But in Cuba it also grows in the denser 

 forests on the slopes of the river valleys (Fernow, etc., quoted by 

 Harshberger, pp. 675, 676). 



The fruit, however, is too coarse to be palatable for man, but it 

 is much appreciated by pigs, and from this circumstance it derives 

 its popular name. As the fallen fruits lie on the ground they lose 

 their fleshy covering; and the air-dried " stones " are so light that 

 in places where the trees abound they may be seen gathered together 

 by the strong winds. On a hillside in Tobago during the heavy rains 

 I noticed that the 44 stones," which lay in quantities on the ground, 

 were being gradually washed down the slope into the river below. 

 The " stone" usually displays four or five cavities, each containing a 

 seed. The seeds retain their freshness for years in my drift- collection, 

 and this is evidently true of those in the beach-drift. However 

 weather-beaten their appearance, it was never difficult to find 

 44 stones " containing some sound seeds in the old drift, whether on 

 a beach in Jamaica, where the trees are abundant, or on the shores 

 of the Turks Islands, where they do not grow. 



On account of their great buoyancy the 44 stones " at first appear 

 well suited for transport across the Atlantic. But the fact that I 

 had found no record of their occurrence amongst West Indian drift 

 stranded on European beaches led me to investigate the matter. 

 As a result, I found that their floating powers were insufficient for 

 the purpose of an Atlantic traverse in the Gulf Stream drift. In 

 addition, it proved to be more than doubtful whether the seeds would 

 retain their germinative powers after a flotation of more than a few 

 months. I made an experiment on a number of drift specimens 

 that preserved their sound condition. The indications were that 

 although about half still floated after seven months in sea-water, 

 they were sodden through their substance, floated heavily, and had 

 decaying seeds. The limit of the period during which the germinative 

 capacity is preserved in a passage across the sea seemed to be two 

 or three months. Although the 44 stones " would be unable to 

 survive the long passage of a year or more that would be involved in 

 an Atlantic traverse from the West Indies in the Gulf Stream drift, 

 they would, as far as their buoyancy is concerned, be well able to 

 perform the passage of two or three months from the West Coast of 

 Africa to Brazil in the Main Equatorial Current, and the seeds would 

 probably retain their germinative powers. 



In the Turks Islands the 44 stones " were to be noticed, often in 

 numbers, on all the cays where the drift was able to gather. They 

 presented themselves among the drift on almost every beach in the 

 West Indies that I examined, as on the north and south coasts of 

 Jamaica, on the north and south sides of Trinidad, in Tobago, and 

 in Grenada. It is many years since they were identified at Kew 

 in a collection of seed-drift made by Morris in Jamaica (Chall. Bot., 

 IV., 299). They are to be observed in the floating drift of rivers, 

 as in the Black River of Jamaica, or stranded in numbers at their 

 mouths, as in the case of the White River of the same island. It is 



