266 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC chap. 



The fact that several of them are fitted for dispersal by 

 frugivorous birds is very suggestive of the lack of means of 

 transport in later times. In the instance of Couthovia corynocarpa 

 the drupes are known to be the food of fruit-pigeons at the present 

 time (Seemann), whilst this is also true of Oncocarpus vitiensis, 

 though this genus has since been found in New Guinea. Since, as 

 will be pointed out in a later chapter, birds must still be fairly 

 active in carrying seeds to Fiji from regions westward, it would 

 seem that genera only become peculiar to Fiji when they fail 

 at their source, and it is indeed doubtfu whether any of the 

 Fijian peculiar genera are home productions. One may instance 

 in this connection the genus Pimia, the fruits of which are especi- 

 ally well suited for attachment to a bird's plumage, yet it is only 

 known from Fiji. 



It should be here observed that no peculiar generic types have 

 been recorded from the adjacent Tongan Group, and scarcely any 

 from Samoa. Except perhaps with the Palmaceae, no peculiar 

 genera seem to be mentioned in Dr. Reinecke's memoir on Samoa. 



Summary. 



(i) The Lobeliaceae, like the Compositae, take a prominent 

 place in the early Pacific flora, being represented, more particularly 

 in Hawaii but also in the East Polynesian or Tahitian region, by 

 endemic genera of tall shrubby and tree-like species. 



(2) Tree-Lobelias occur in other parts of the world, as in South 

 America and tropical Africa ; but it is especially on the higher 

 slopes of the mountains of Equatorial Africa that they attain a 

 development comparable with that of Hawaii. 



(3) In Hawaii the Tree-Lobelias are most characteristic of the 

 middle forest-zone (3,000-6,000 feet), where the temperature is 

 mild, the rainfall heavy, and the atmosphere laden with humidity. 



(4) The affinities of these endemic genera of the Lobeliaceae are 

 mainly American ; but their generic distinctions have been both 

 exaggerated and disguised by redundant growth. 



(5) From the distribution of the genera and species within the 

 Hawaiian Group it is evident that, as with the early Compositae, the 

 original Lobeliaceous immigrants were not all contemporaneous 

 arrivals. Some of the genera are on the point of extinction, whilst 

 others are in their prime. 



(6) The absence of the Lobeliaceae from the groups of the 

 Fijian area (Fiji, Tonga, Samoa) is probably to be connected, as in 



