136 MISS Г. S. GIBBS: A CONTRIBUTION TO 
Marquesas, was also found; but it is not given for Samoa in Reinecke’s 
paper, where Stephani enumerates all the species collected in those islands, 
of which many are identical with the Fijian. 
In Fungi, Miss A. Lorrain Smith has described three new species, two 
being in the little-known genus of Laschia and one in Lentinus. 
From these results it will be seen that the present collection confirms the 
Indo-Malayan character of the Fijian Flora, and at the same time emphasizes 
its relationship to the islands to the east, viz. Samoa and Tonga, and to a less 
extent Tahiti—a fact already noted by Hemsley *. There is one point that 
analyses of different collections bring out very clearly, and that is, the 
relation of the flora to the topographieal character of the various islands. 
Fiji with its large islands, mountain ranges, fine rivers, and fertile depth of 
soll, harbours, as might be expected, a larger and more varied flora than 
Samoa, where the islands are smaller in area, Upolu having only one 
mountain range, which is the watershed, whenee the streams pour down its 
sides to the surrounding ocean. Climatic conditions being practically the 
same, the predominating features of the vegetation agree, but the magnificent 
Conifers of Fiji are absent, restricted topographical conditions not allowing 
iheir development. The Tongan Islands are of coral formation, perfectly 
flat, Tongatabu and Haarpai being practically all over in a state of culti- 
vation, and even the smallest islands are planted with coconuts. Eua is 
the one exception : standing out like one mountain from the rest of the 
group, 1000 ft. in height, with a voleanic soil and heavy rainfall, it has 
a much greater number of species approximating strikingly to Fiji, as 
shown in the presence of Melicytus ramiflorus and Discocalyx Listeri. The 
Vavau group is composed of raised coral-reefs, the highest point being 
400 ft. Т Having no rivers, these islands depend on the excessive rainfall for 
their water-supply. Their flora is characterized by the drier types of Fiji, 
and the generally distributed ethno-botanieal plants with the usual Indo- 
Malayan ferns. In the Cook Islands, more to the south, the flora of 
Rarotonga has been thoroughly investigated by Cheeseman f ; there the area 
is small, the greatest altitude 2200 feet, and the streams radiating from the 
mountains do not open out into rivers but lose themselves in the sandy beach 
round, which allows of no mangrove formation. The island was generally 
cultivated, as it formerly carried а much larger population; so that the 
ethno-botanical plants of Polynesia are well represented, with the widely 
distributed plants of drier areas, and a restricted number of endemie types. 
* Hemsley, W. B., ^ The Flora of the Tonga or Friendly Islands," Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot, 
xxx. (1894) pp. 158-217. | 
+ Burkill, I. H., The Flora of Vavau,” Journ. Linn, Soc., Bot. xxxv. (1901) pp. 20-65. 
{ Cheeseman, T. F., “The Flora of Rarotonga, the chief island of the Cook Group,” 
Trans, Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Bot. vi. (1903) pp. 261—313, t. 31-35. 
