394 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



Similarly, I would say that the flora of Madeira, Canaries, 

 and Cape Verd Islands is African, with strong affinities in 

 Eastern North Subtropical Africa. 



On the opposite side of the Atlantic to the Cape Verd 

 Islands is the Fernando Noronha group, situated in about 

 3° 50' S. lat., and nearly 200 miles distant from Cape San 

 Roque, Brazil, which was discovered by Amerigo Vespucci 

 in 1 503. Several naturalists of note have touched there, and 

 collected a few plants, including Darwin in the Beagle and 

 Moseley in the Challenger; but it was not until 1887 that the 

 islands were thoroughly botanically explored. Aided by a 

 grant from the Royal Society, Mr. H. N. Ridley and Mr. 

 G. A. Ramage spent about six weeks on the islands in that 

 year, and the former published (40) the botanical results of 

 the expedition. These results were somewhat disappointing, 

 because Fernando Noronha had a reputation for insularity 

 which it did not deserve. This was doubtless owing to the 

 fact that both Darwin and Moseley's very small collections 

 of plants contained previously undescribed species ; yet, as 

 it turned out, they had happened to put their hands upon 

 the most striking of the few endemic plants, and Mr. Ridley 

 had few novelties to add. Indeed, there was little to add 

 concerning the general character and origin of the vegeta- 

 tion to that given by the writer (41) in 1884. It is there 

 stated that the flora is quite tropical American, with no 

 greater infusion of peculiar species than would be found in 

 a similar area on the mainland. The new species exhibited 

 no striking characteristics, and it was not probable that 

 further exploration would lead to the discovery of a specially 

 insular endemic element. Nevertheless, Mr. Ridley desig- 

 nates the group as " oceanic," though he had only a 

 few, mostly critical species of well-known genera to add 

 to those previously known. Who first regarded the 

 group as belonging, in relation to the origin of its flora, 

 to the same category as St. Helena, I have not been 

 able to ascertain ; but I find that Dr. Ihering, in an 

 article that is certainly deserving of perusal (42), attributes 

 it to Wallace, and goes so far as to assert that the latter had 

 taken its flora to be primarily of African origin, conveyed by 

 oceanic currents and other means. This seemed to me so 



