APPENDIX 



489 



and the Hawaiian Islands is another matter. Yet in Hawaii, Draccena 

 aurea shares this difficulty with several other trees, such as Sider- 

 oxylon (Sapotacece) and Elceocarpus, that are known in other localities 

 to be locally dispersed by pigeons (Plant Dispersal, pp. 372-4, 377). 



One point that should be remembered in connection with the survival 

 of species of Dracaena on islands is the tenacity of life displayed by 

 D. draco in the Canaries. That the tree would make a vigorous 

 effort to contest extinction is indicated not only by the manner of 

 its growth, but also by its capacity of vegetative reproduction. 

 Not only can it be raised from cuttings ; but it seems highly probable 

 that if the tree was greatly injured by the wind, so that it lay in 

 fragments on the ground, it would sometimes be able to reproduce 

 itself from the tops of the branches. An experiment by Mr. Bain 

 in this direction is recorded in the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica (XII., 236). After the top of a Dracaena draco, which 

 had been slowly separated from the stem, had been suspended some 

 months in a bushy covering, it protruded roots, and subsequently 

 established itself when lowered into the soil. 



Note 32 (p. 265). 

 A comparison of the old and later charts of the Turks Islands. 



Here are compared a French chart of 1753 and the British Admiralty 

 chart mainly based on the survey of 1830. The French chart, which 

 is in the British Museum library, describes itself as " from a survey 

 made in 1753 by the sloops VAigle and VEmeraude by order of the 

 French Governor of Hispaniola with improvements from observations 

 made in 1770 in the Sir Edward Hawke, King's Schooner." It was 

 published in 1794 by Laurie and Whittle, 53 Fleet Street, London ; and 

 is drawn on a scale of three inches to four miles. The Admiralty 

 chart (No. 1441) is based on Captain Owen's survey of 1830 with 

 additions to 1845 and large corrections in 1864-5 and 1898, the scale 

 being much the same as in the French chart. 



The names of the larger islands in the French chart are those in 

 present use. Thus we have Grand Turk, Cotton Island, Salt Key, 

 and Sand Key ; but the last, which is now known by the inhabitants 

 as Greater Sand Key, is there stated to be " sometimes called Foul 

 Key or Seal Key." The names of the smaller islands are all different 

 from those in the Admiralty chart which are those now employed in 

 the group. Thus Long Key is there named Pelican's Island, Pear 

 Key is Bird's Island, Eastern Key is Breeches Island, and Toney 

 Rock to the south of Eastern Key is called The Centry. Gibb Key 

 and Round Key are named The Twins. However, the small eastern 

 islands are only rudely indicated in the French chart, and Penniston 

 Key is omitted altogether — an evident error, since it could not be of 

 recent origin. 



For nautical surveys in those times and in those seas, this early 

 French chart may be regarded as fairly complete. Three fixed posi- 

 tions were obtained by astronomical observation, the latitude and 

 longitude for the south-west corner of Grand Turk, and the latitude 



