28 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



Among these plants regarded as of exotic origin are : 

 Calophyllum, Paritium, Lagenaria, Corrfia, Cucurbita, 

 Artocarpus, Broussvnetia, Aleurites, Piper, Colocasia, Musa, 

 Sacckarum, Dioscorea, etc., in fact nearly all those necessary 

 to the existence or comfort of the inhabitants. After making 

 the foregoing deductions, there remain 860 species belonging 

 to 265 genera, which may reasonably be regarded as indi- 

 genous ; in other words, as having reached or developed in 

 the islands, independently of human agency. Of these 860 

 species, 653 are endemic or peculiar to the islands ; and 

 there are forty endemic genera. Of these no fewer than 

 180 species and six genera are described by Hillebrand for 

 the first time. It is computed that 81-42 per cent, of the 

 phanerogams are endemic, and, taking the dicotyledons 

 alone, no less than 85*62 per cent. ; yet the author is wrong 

 in stating that this proportion is much higher than in any 

 other country. In West Australia, for example, eighty-five 

 per cent, of the whole specific phanerogamic flora is endemic, 

 and in St. Helena, thirty-seven out of the thirty-eight 

 indigenous flowering plants are endemic. With regard to 

 the origin of the flora, the author recognises the inade- 

 quacy of oceanic currents, and he found no evidence of an 

 earlier terrestrial immigration. He also specially emphasises 

 the fact that the Hawaiian Islands are the only Polynesian 

 group containing a large proportion of indigenous plants 

 having American affinities. This is strongly exemplified 

 in the numerous and prominent endemic Composite and 

 Lobeliacese. 



The author describes five zones of vegetation, which 

 ascends to altitudes of 10,000 to 11,000 feet on some of 

 the mountains ; but, as this work has been so long in the 

 hands of botanists, it does not seem desirable to give 

 fuller particulars. 



There are further contributions to the botany of 

 Eastern Polynesia, especially of the islands under French 

 protection, 1 and of these combined with the whole of 



1 Flore de la Pofynesie Fran false, E. Drake del Castillo, 1893, 

 8vo, xxiv. and 352 pages. 



