FOREIGN DRIFT OF THE TURKS ISLANDS 165 



at sea from boats sailing between the islands. They range from five 

 or six inches to a couple of feet across, and all apparently belong to 

 the same kind of Mseandrine massive coral with large convolutions. 

 I picked up some small specimens on the beach, and examined others 

 of large size which a resident had placed in his garden. The largest 

 measured by me was 17 x 14 x 5 inches in size. It floated when 

 placed in fresh- water, and probably weighed forty or fifty pounds. 

 I was informed that larger specimens have been found. Most of the 

 floating corals examined by me floated in fresh-water as well as in 

 sea- water ; but in one case the coral floated only in sea- water. Many 

 years ago floating corals of the same character were examined by me 

 on Keeling Atoll in the Indian Ocean, and a description of them was 

 given in a paper contributed to the Scottish Geographical Magazine 

 for 1889. Reference may be made in this connection to Coral and 

 Atolls, by Wood- Jones, 1910. 



Electric-light Bulbs. — Amongst the " odds and ends " cast up on the 

 beaches of the Turks Islands are electric-light bulbs. I found three 

 or four of these stout glass globes, which were all quite intact and 

 would seemingly float for years. Mr. Savage English alludes, in his 

 paper on Grand Cayman in the Kew Bulletin (1913), to the occur- 

 rence of these bulbs amongst the " jetsam " of that island. Doubt- 

 less they are discarded and thrown over from vessels. They are 

 quite watertight, and suggest useful floats for current investigation, 

 as they are very conspicuous on a beach. 



