392 
between species the seeds or fruits of which may arrive attached to 
the bodies of birds, and species of which the fruits and seeds have been 
eaten. The species carried externally will be first considered and may 
further be conveniently subdivided into two sub-groups, viz., species 
that have probably been introduced only by swimming- or wading-birds, 
and species introduced by birds of any kind. The species of the first 
kind give a sub-group distinguished by an aquatic or paludine habitat, 
and characterised by small inconspicuous fruits or seeds that readily 
become attached, along with pellets of mud, to the feet, the leg-feathers, 
or the feathers at the base of the bill, of birds frequenting pools and 
marshes. The following table exhibits the whole of this kind pi’esent in 
the Coco Group. 
Table XIX. Distribution of the species probably introduced by 
swimming or wading birds. 
Africa. 
s. ; 
.2 
t-H 
E. Ai 
c3 
.2 
A 
o 
o 
'Ti 
a 
HH 
3IA 
a 
Australia. | 
Polynesia. 
America. | 
Nymphsea Lotus 
X 
X 
X 
X 
- 
- 
- 
Limnanthemum iudicam 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
Hygrophila quadrivalvis ... ... 
— 
X 
X 
~ 
— 
Lippia nodiflora 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
5. Polygonum barbatum... 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
Zanichellia palustris ... 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
Cyperus polystacbyus 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
Cyperus elegans 
— 
X 
X 
X 
— 
— 
Cyperus dilutus 
— 
X 
! X 
X 
— 
— 
10. Fimbristylis quinqueangularis 
X 
X 
i ^ 
X 
X 
— 
Fimbristylis miliacea ... 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
— 
X 
Scirpus subulatus 
X 
X 
X 
— 
~ 
Paspalnm scrobiculatum 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
— 
— 
Panicum Myurus 
X 
1 ^ 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
15. Ceratopteris thalictroides 
X 
: X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
Chara foetida 
i X 
X 
X 
The next table gives the analysis of this distribution; the most 
striking feature the two tables reveal is the extent to which species of this 
kind are cosmopolitan. Among the non-cosmopolitan species the indica¬ 
tions are altogether in favour of introduction from the northward and 
westward, for while only 10 of the species occur in Australia, and only 
the 6, which are all cosmopolitan, occur in Polynesia, 12 occur in Africa 
and 7 in America. Of the more local distribution we learn that none need 
necessarily have been introduced from Malaya since the 14 that occur 
202 
