BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 643 
had already existed on the principal islands. Thus, taking the 
Sandwich group and Society group as an instance, both are 
situated in nearly the same longitude, equally distant from 
the Equator, one in the 20th north, and the other in 
the 27th degree of south latitude. They contain 50 
flowering plants in common, a considerable proportion 
of which are littoral species, equally natives of the other 
Pacific Islands (almost none, however, inhabiting the 
American shores :) in other respects their Floras are wholly 
dissimilar. Few or no marked genera are common to both 
with representative species in each. The Society Island 
vegetation is the poorest, the most tropical in forms, and the 
least peculiar, differing from that of the Sandwich group in 
possessing more Malvacee, Leguminose, Myrtacee, Melas- 
tomacee, Cucurbitacee, Apocynee, Urticee, and particularly 
Orchidacee ; and wanting, or nearly so, the Composite, Lobe- 
liacee, Goodenovie, and Cyrtandree of the Sandwich Islands, 
which are very numerous, peculiar and characteristic there: 
whilst of such Orders as Graminee, Cyperacee, Euphorbia- 
cee, Solanee, Convolvulacee and Rubiacee, well represented 
in both, there exist but few species, and no peculiar genera, 
common to the two groups. 
"Tas. XXIII and XXIV. Fig. 1. Palea; f. 2. floret; f. 3. 
stamen ; f. 4, apex of style; f. 5. fruit; all magnified. — 
|. BOTANICAL INFORMATION. ied 
ZEYHER AND BURKE; 
South African Collections of Plants. 
Mr. Charles L. Zeyher is favourably known to science 
from the many years (not less then twenty-one) that he 
has devoted to studying and collecting plants in distant 
. Tegions. His first collections were made, we believe, in the 
Mauritius, in company with the unfortunate Sieber: but the - 
