INSULAR FLORAS. 



PART IV. 



1^7 ROM the main Atlantic we may return northward, 

 diverging to the West Indies. Much has been done 

 during the past ten years in the botanical exploration of 

 the smaller islands of the West Indies, chiefly under the 

 auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, supported by grants from the Royal Society. The 

 Germans have also taken up the matter, and Dr. I. Urban, 

 of Berlin, has in hand a flora of all the islands. The 

 Committee appointed by the British Association held its 

 first meeting in January, 1888, and steps were at once 

 taken for carrying its recommendations into effect. A 

 report containing a botanical and zoological bibliography 

 (1) of the chain of islands from Tobago to Porto Rico was 

 issued by the association the same year, followed by annual 

 reports up to the present time. Mr. F. Du Cane Godman 

 assisted materially by the employment of private collectors, 

 both in botany and zoology. The bibliography referred to 

 above contains not only the titles of the books and articles 

 treating of the botany and zoology of the islands, but also 

 the main facts then known relating to each island or group 

 of islands, it having been intended as a kind of guide for 

 the use of collectors and elaborators. 



Nearly all of the British Islands, from Tobago to the 

 Virgin group, were more or less thoroughly explored, the 

 staff of the various botanical stations in the West Indies 

 having worked in concert with the special collectors ; and 

 the results have been published, some in detail, some in 

 summary only. 



It may be premised that the flora of the whole chain of 

 islands is very uniform in composition throughout ; there- 

 fore it will be sufficient to discuss two or three of the more 

 important contributions, though, for convenience, references 

 are also given to the smaller ones. The islands may be 

 taken in order, from south to north, beginning with 



