PREFACE 



P"PHE following pages consist mainly of an account of an expedition 

 X to the volcanic island of Krakatau which I had an opportunity 

 of making in the spring of 1906 in company with some other botanists. 

 The work was originally published in the Viertcljahrsschrift der 

 naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zilrich (Jahrgang 52, 1907) : a 

 few reprints only were available for purchase. I therefore agreed 

 with pleasure to the proposal made to me by the Cambridge 

 University Press to publish an English translation, particularly as 

 Professor Seward, who carried out the preliminary negotiations, 

 kindly offered to be the translator. I wish to express my cordial 

 thanks to him. I would also thank the Syndics of the University 

 Press for the care with which the volume has been produced. 



Four hitherto unpublished photographs have been added to those 

 published in the German edition. I have also taken the opportunity 

 of making a few corrections and additions, so that the English trans- 

 lation may be regarded as a second edition of the original work. 



A. ERNST. 



Zurich, 



September, 1908. 



NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR 



THE unique example, afforded by the development of the New 

 Flora of Krakatau, of the colonisation of an island, completely 

 deprived of vegetation by a series of volcanic eruptions, is a sufficient 

 justification for the publication of Professor Ernst's pamphlet in an 

 English form. 



The additional photographs (Plates V. and VII.) referred to by 

 the Author in the Preface have been reproduced from prints kindly 

 supplied by Professor Ernst from his own negatives. A few references 

 and other additions for which the translator is responsible are enclosed 

 in square brackets. To Professor and Mrs Ernst I am greatly indebted 

 for several corrections and additions which they have made in the 

 course of their careful revision of the English text : I am indebted 

 also to Colleagues in the Botany School for help in regard to certain 

 passages in the translation. 



A. C. SEWARD. 

 Botany School, Cambridge, 

 September, 1908. 



