OF THE HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO 265 
21. Nihoa, Bird Island or Moku (Modu) Manu: volcanic remnant; three quarters of a 
mile long, one third of a mile wide, 600-900 feet high; sea-cliffs on all sides; 
vegetation scanty. 
22. Small isles along the coast of Niihau, probably at one time connected with the 
island: Kaula and Lehua, small eroded cinder cones with sea-cliffs and steep 
es 
Small isl th t of Oahu: Moku M : volcanic remnants); Manana 
(Rabbit fant: eroded crater, with sea-cliff: 
24. Small isles and rocks along the coasts of Shaaonilt: Mokolea, Mokohola, Moko- 
25. . pes along the coasts of Maui: Molokini, 
26. Five Needles: a group of detached pinnacle a dbeat 120 feet high, situated 
five and a half miles north of Cape Kaea, Lanai, and about the middle of the 
bight on the west side of the island. 
The largest strand areas on any single island occur on the 
island of Hawaii; the smallest strands are those of the tiny islets 
in the westward end of the archipelago. On the whole, the 
Hawaiian strand, as a phytogeographic province, is poorly de- 
veloped when compared with the Indo-Malayan or West Indian 
strands, or with those of numerous other archipelagoes. 
SUBSIDENCE AND ELEVATION 
A factor of far-reaching importance in any biological studies in 
the Hawaiian Archipelago is that of subsidence, i. e., the islands 
are but the apices of lofty and slowly-sinking submarine moun- 
tains. Physiographical evidence is accumulating to show that 
during previous stages in the history of the central Pacific, these 
islands undoubtedly stood thousands of feet higher than they do at 
present. Many stages of subsidence and erosion may be found 
today within the group, ranging from the large, actively volcanic 
island of Hawaii (nearly 14,000 feet in elevation), at one end of 
the chain, to the tiny coral atolls, but a few feet above sea-level, 
which are scattered along the other extremity. 
_ Considering the strand zone of any given island, it is evident 
that through a long period of time this zone has been slowly 
creeping up the slopes of the island, and the terrestrial vegetation 
has been crowded into steadily diminishing areas. In other words, 
the total mileage of strand was formerly much greater than at 
present, other things being equal. Granting slow subsidence as 
the prevalent condition of Pacific islands (see, in this connection, an 
important contribution by Bryan, '16), the great strand mileage 
