164 NATURAL SCIENCE. Marcu, 
is, however, rendered sterile and uninhabitable by its active volcano 
and the lava-deposits. The entire archipelago is volcanic, and 
separated from the nearest continents by great depths, so the islands 
must have been always as isolated as at present. 
The flora was well worked up by Hillebrand, and, as might be 
expected, is very peculiar ; of 800 indigenous species of seed plants 
and ferns, 653 or 75 per cent. are endemic; of seed plants alone, 81 
per cent. ; and of dicotyledons, 85. 
The capital, Honolulu, whichis situated on Oahu, one of the more 
northern islands, ‘‘is like one great botanical garden.’ This is said 
to be largely due to Dr. Hillebrand, who introduced many foreign 
plants, and his place, kept much as it was when he left the islands, ‘‘ was 
a very remarkable collection of useful and ornamental plants from the 
warm regions of almost the whole globe.” Very striking to the 
traveller from temperate climes is the great variety and number of 
palms; the beautiful royal palm (Oveodoxa regia), with its smooth 
columnar trunkand its plume-like crown of leaves, betel-nut palms, 
(Aveca), the wine palm (Caryota), the sugar palm (Avenga), and many 
fan-palms. The young coco palms are beautiful enough, though, 
unfortunately, very subject to the attacks of an insect which eats the 
leaves, but in old specimens the trunk is too tall for its girth, so that 
the trees look top-heavy. The great preponderance of Leguminose, 
especially the sub-orders Czsalpiniezee and Mimosee, is also remark- 
able. All about the town is the rapidly-growing algaroba (Prosopis 
juliflova) a graceful tree, with fine bipinnate leaves and sweetish 
yellow pods. The pods are largely used for fodder, and the wood 
forms the principal fuel-supply for Honolulu. The monkey-pod 
(Pithecolobium Samang), tamarind, and various species of Bauhinia and 
Cathartocarpus were also noticed, besides a great number of shrubs and 
trees, with showy flowers or leaves, mostly familiar from pictures 
or the greenhouse; such were several species of Musa, the traveller’s 
tree (Ravenala madagascariensis), and the beautiful Hibiscus Fosa-Sinensis. 
At Puna Hou College is a hedge of night-blooming cereus 500 feet 
long. Of fruit trees the mango, bread-fruit, and guava are common, 
aiso the alligator pear (Persea gratissima) and the papaya. 
Away from the city the luxuriant vegetation is strange. Along 
the sea-shore the plain is almost destitute of trees, save for an 
occasional coco palm, while in the fertile lowlands near the sea are 
the principal cane- and rice-fields. 
The valleys at the back of the city, though very rainy, richly 
repaid a visit by the luxuriance and variety of their vegetation. 
Grass-covered hills give way as one proceeds to thickets of Canna and 
a rosy-white Clerodendvon, while the curious screw-pine is occasionally 
seen, though much more abundant in some of the other islands. 
Several showy ipomzeas are very common. 
With increase of moisture, masses of ferns increase in beauty 
and number, and at about 1,000 ft. elevation species of Cuzbotium 
