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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

wood in 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869
the roots of 1872

seeds of many kinds 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869
many kinds of seeds 1872

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, even on those in the midst of the widest oceans; and the natives of the coral-islands in the
Pacific,
Pacific
procure stones for their tools, solely from the roots of drifted trees, these stones being a valuable royal tax. I find
on examination,
on examination,
that when irregularly shaped stones are embedded in the roots of trees, small parcels of earth are
very
very
frequently enclosed in their interstices and behind them,— so perfectly that not a particle could be washed away
during
in
the longest transport: out of one small portion of earth thus
completely
completely
enclosed by wood in an oak about 50 years old, three
dicotyledo-nous
dicotyledonous
plants germinated: I am certain of the accuracy of this observation. Again, I can show that the
carcasses
car-cases
carcases
of birds, when floating on the sea, sometimes escape being immediately
devoured:
devoured;
and seeds of many kinds in the crops of floating birds long retain their vitality: peas and vetches, for instance, are killed by even a few
days'
days
immersion in sea-water; but some taken out of the crop of a pigeon, which had floated on artificial
salt-water
sea-water
saltwater
for 30 days, to my surprise nearly all germinated.
Living birds can hardly fail to be highly effective agents in the transportation of seeds. I could give many facts showing how frequently birds of many kinds are blown by gales to vast distances across the ocean. We may
I think
....
safely assume that under