XXII 



THE FIJIAN ENDEMIC GENERA 



265 



There are, however, some peculiarities about the Fijian endemic 

 genera that will attract our attention from the standpoint of 

 dispersal. One remarkable feature is the paucity of species. 

 Almost all the genera are monotypic, that is to say, they are only 

 known by a single species. Amongst the twenty-eight Hawaiian 

 genera that are strictly endemic, only four or five are monotypic, 

 and they are mostly regarded by Hillebrand as worn-out, decadent 

 types found in only one or two islands. In Hawaii there are 

 on the average six species to each endemic genus ; and it is 

 thus apparent that in the display of formative energy Nature has 

 worked on very different lines in these two groups. Since the nine 

 Fijian endemic genera belong to nearly as many different orders, 

 the composition of this endemic generic flora is by no means 

 homogeneous. It is, I venture to think, such a motley collection as 

 one might expect in a region that has been exposed to wave after 

 wave of migration from the west, with no lofty mountains, as 

 in Hawaii, to afford a refuge against extinction. It by no means 

 follows that all these endemic genera have been produced in Fiji. 

 Some of them may represent genera that have become extinct in 

 the large continental groups to the westward. 



SEEMANN'S SIXTEEN FIJIAN ENDEMIC GENERA. 



Those genera marked * have since been found outside the group. 



The authorities are thus indicated : (C)=Drake del Castillo ; (H)=Horne ; (ll)=Index Kewensis 

 (S)=Seemann ; (Sc)=Schimper ; (So)=Solereder in Engler's Nat. Pflanz. Fam. 



