Origin of Species Variorum

→ to a favourable spot 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

OMIT 1872

→ they 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

to a favourable spot, 1872

→ floated 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

of different kinds floated 1872

→ could hardly be transported by any other means; and 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

which, as 1872

→ that such plants 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

OMIT 1872

→ ranges. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869

ranges, could hardly be transported by any other means. 1872

rate of the several Atlantic currents

33 miles per diem (some currents running at the rate of 60 miles per diem); on this average, the seeds of 14/100 plants belonging to one country might be floated across 924 miles of sea to another

country,

country;

and when stranded, if blown →to a favourable spot by an inland

gale

gale,

→they would germinate.

Subsequently to my experiments, M. Martens tried similar ones, but in a much better manner, for

placed the seeds in a box in the actual sea, so that they were alternately wet and exposed to the air like really floating plants. He tried 98 seeds, mostly different from mine; but he chose many large fruits and likewise seeds from plants which live near the sea; and this would have favoured

both the

the

average length of their flotation and

their resistance to the injurious action of the salt-water. On the other

hand,

hand

he did not previously dry the plants or branches with the fruit; and this, as we have seen, would have caused some of them to have floated much longer. The result was that

1/9 8/8

18/98

of his seeds →floated for 42 days, and were then capable of germination. But I do not doubt that plants exposed to the waves would float for a less time than those protected from violent movement as in our experiments. Therefore it would perhaps be safer to assume that the seeds of about 10/100 plants of a flora, after having been dried, could be floated across a space of sea 900 miles in width, and would then germinate. The fact of the larger fruits often floating longer than the small, is

in- teresting;

interesting;

as plants with large seeds or fruit →could hardly be transported by any other means; and Alph. de Candolle has

shown,

shown

→that such plants generally have restricted →ranges.

~~But~~

But

Seeds

seeds

may be occasionally transported in another manner. Drift timber is thrown up on most islands,