FOREIGN DRIFT OF THE TURKS ISLANDS 127 



been taken from the ripe fruit in Jamaica five months before. Of 

 four placed in fresh-water one sank in three weeks and displayed 

 on examination a decaying kernel. One sank in seven weeks, and 

 failed to germinate when placed under suitable conditions, the 

 embryo proving to be in a putrid condition. Two remained afloat 

 after two months, and of these one showed a kernel beginning 

 to decay, whilst in the other it was quite fresh and sound. Of four 

 put in sea-water at the same time, one sank in three weeks and 

 another in six weeks, both losing their kernels by decay when sub- 

 sequently placed in soil. Of two that floated after a couple of 

 months immersion, one showed a putrid kernel and the other a kernel 

 in an earlier stage of decay. 



The outcome of all these observations on the seeds of Fevillea 

 cordifolia is that after they have been freed by the breaking down 

 of the fruit floating in river- drift they will float for a long time un- 

 harmed in the fresh-water, some of them ultimately germinating 

 at the surface. Of the numbers that would not be detained in the 

 river but would be carried down to the sea, most would soon succumb 

 to the injurious effects of salt water, and probably none would 

 preserve their germinative capacity after floating for several weeks 

 in the sea. A scale of progressive deterioration is indicated by my 

 observations, beginning with those seeds floating in river-drift 

 where 50 per cent, are sound, then taking those stranded on the 

 neighbouring sea-shore where 10 per cent, only are sound, and ending 

 with some sandy islet a few hundred miles away, where only 5 per 

 cent, would be regarded as sound. Seeds that behave in this fashion 

 could never cross an ocean unharmed, though it is quite likely that 

 the empty crustaceous shell, or its separated halves, would be found 

 amongst the West Indian drift stranded on the coasts of Europe. 



Manicaria saccifera 



As it is a little doubtful whether one or more species are included 

 under this name, it is here used in a general sense. The stranded 

 fruits of these palms came under my notice in widely removed 

 localities of the West Indies, as in Jamaica, Tobago, Trinidad, and 

 the Turks Islands, and I may here add Colon. They have long been 

 known as occurring in the beach-drift of Barbados and of other 

 islands of the Lesser Antilles, and in recent years they have been 

 noticed on the Cayman Islands. Yet with the exception of Trinidad, 

 none of the West Indian islands are known to possess these palms. 

 The observant Jamaican native when he picks up on the beach the 

 " sea coco-nut," as he calls it, will tell you that it has been " brought 

 by the waves from a distance." So also the Barbadians, who name 

 it " sea-apple," can have no acquaintance with the palm. 



The distribution of these palms is very interesting. Though 

 recorded from the estuaries of tropical South America, as from the 

 Amazon, the rivers of the Guianas, and the Orinoco, Trinidad repre- 

 sents its only known insular habitat. Yet the presence of the drift 

 fruits in such numbers in the Turks Islands at the south-east ex- 

 tremity of the Bahamas seems to indicate that the palms grow in 



