OF THE HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO © 263 
II. MIKRONESIA: Mariana, Pelew, Caroline, Marshall, and Gilbert Islands, and 
intervening islands. 
12. Potynesta—(a) Nuclear Polynesia: Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Tokelau, Ellice Islands, 
etc. 
(b) Central Polynesia: Cook, Phoenix, Tubuai, Rokahanga, Ton- 
garewa, Manahiki Islands. 
(c) Southeast abaireae Society, Marquesas, Taumotu, Gambier, 
Pitcairn, Easter, Ducie Islands, etc. 
(d) Northern Feito: HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 
(e) Southern Polynesia: New Zealand and Cthiahatn Islands. 
f) Polynesian Verge: scattered islands between Polynesia and 
Melanesia, such as Ticopia. 
EXTENT OF THE HAWAIIAN LITTORAL 
The great length of the archipelago gives the littoral zone a 
much larger significance and extent than if the archipelago con- 
sisted of but a few islands situated close together. The Hawaiian 
littoral, ranging for nearly two thousand miles, contrasts sharply 
with the compact littoral of such groups as Samoa, Tonga, New 
Caledonia, Ellice and Phoenix. Other Pacific island groups which 
are extended over long axes, similar to Hawaii, are the Aleutian, 
Kurile, Paumotu, Marshall, Caroline, and Solomon Islands. 
The Hawaiian strand occupies an island series extending from 
18° 54’ to 22° 15’ north latitude, and between 154° 50’ and 160° 30’ 
of longitude west of Greenwich. This range should greatly in- 
crease the mathematical probability of plant dispersal, and in 
some measure tend to neutralize the powerful isolation-factor. 
The east-and-west range of the littoral naturally results in a much 
greater homogeneity of flora than would be the case in an archi- 
pelago with a dominant north-and-south axis. In this respect 
the Hawaiian Islands may be contrasted with such archipelagoes 
as the Philippines, and the Mariana and Maldive groups. 
The great variation in the size and elevation of the several 
islands markedly influences the extent of the littoral. In general, 
the low islands have strands that extend further back into the 
interior than do those of the high islands; the small islands have a 
larger proportion of strand, relative to their total area, than do 
the large islands. The small, low coral islets that predominate 
in the western end of the archipelago are littoral throughout 
practically all their area; the large, high islands of Maui and Hawaii, 
at the eastern extremity of the archipelago, have a narrow and 
closely defined strand. 
