Fortunate Islands 



Again in Chile, in the bush above Conception, there 

 was the handsome but poisonous Lobelia (Tupa) called 

 the Devil's Tobacco. These remarkable plants form a 

 special group which occur in Abyssinia, Fernando Po, 

 Kilimanjaro in Africa, in South America ; there are a 

 few in Tahiti, and also some sixty species of them in 

 Hawaii of all places in the world. One of these is said 

 to be sometimes 40 feet in height. 



Are these also ancient relicts of some older world- 

 vegetation driven to the mountains in Africa, having by 

 a lucky chance succeeded in taking refuge in Tahiti, 

 and still withstanding competition in South America ? 



But this is enough to show how puzzling and how 

 varied are the interesting problems still left unsolved in 

 the South Seas and other Fortunate Islands. 



1 Webbe. 2 Schimper. 8 Ridley. 



* Maxwell. * Guppy, Schimper, Tansley. 



283 



