Taylor. Endemism in the Bahama Flora. 527 



America, while 7 per cent, of Bahama endemics are found in genera 

 that so far as known are confined otherwise to the Florida mainland. 

 There also appears to be about 5 per cent, of genera containing endemics 

 which are confined to the Florida-Bahama-West Indies region, and if 

 this study were more extensive geographically they would be considered 

 endemic genera. They are all woody plants. These Floridian-Bahamian- 

 West Indian genera, with the number of Bahamian endemic species, are 



as follows : 



Torrubia with i Bahama endemic 

 Rhacoma i ,, 



Malachc i ,, 



Ernodea ,,4 ,, endemics 



These 76 genera, together with those in which no endemic species are 

 found, make up the present flora of the Bahamas. As we have shown 

 above, the distribution of this flora, both endemic and non-endemic, does not 

 differ greatly, nor does there appear to be any reason why there should be 

 any fundamental difference in the forces that have controlled the distribution 

 of these plants over the archipelago. There can be no essential age 

 difference so far as occupancy of the islands by their flora is concerned, 

 whether the genera happen to contain endemics or not. 



The present distribution of the endemics presents certain features that 

 demand further study in the field. Recorded below are the percentages 

 found in the different regions of the Bahamas, followed by a brief discussion 

 of what these figures appear to indicate. It should be borne in mind that 

 Great Bahama Bank and Little Bahama Bank include all the islands now 

 exposed on them. As we have shown, the individual islands in either of 

 these groups must have once been connected with one another but not with 

 those of the other group. Nor has there ever been any connexion of either 

 group with the scattered and isolated islands to the south. The percentages 

 are as follows : 



Distribution of Bahama Endemics on Islands of the Little Bahama Bank, 

 Great Bahama Bank, or on Isolated Islands. 



1. On Little Bahama Bank only . . . . . . . 5-3 



2. On Great Bahama Bank only . . . . . . . . 22-7 



3. On separate islands only ........ . 35-6 



4. On Little snd Great Bahama Banks only 11-4 



5. On Little Bahama Bank, Great Bahama Bank, and separate islands . 9-9 



6. On Great Bahama Bank and separate islands only . . . . 15-1 



These percentages show some interesting features of the dispersal of 

 endemics. In the first place the largest land mass, the Great Bahama 

 Bank, has only 227 per cent, of the total endemics that are peculiar to it 

 and now confined to the islands that outcrop from it. The second largest 

 land mass, represented by the islands on the Little Bahama Bank, has only 

 $3 per cent, of the total endemic flora of the archipelago. In other words, 



M m 2 



