338 



NA TURE 



\^Fcb. II, 1886 



hoped that the rational part of the community will see 

 its reasonableness, and will do their best to have it 

 thoroughly carried out. 



Similar measures have long been enforced in Berlin 

 and other Continental cities, and have been followed by 

 the most gratifying results in the diminution or sup- 

 pression of the dreaded hydrophobia. 



BOTANICAL RESULTS OF THE ''CHAL- 

 LENGER " EXPEDITION 



Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H. M.S. 

 " Challenger" during the Years \%Ty]i> tinder the Com- 

 mand of Capt. G. S. Nares,Ii.N.,F.R.S., and Capt. F. T. 

 Thomson, R.N. Prepared under the Superintendence of 

 the late Sir C. Wyville Thomson, F.R.S., &c., and now 

 of John Murray, one of the Naturalists of the Expe- 

 dition. Botany — Vol. I. By William Botting Hemsley, 

 A.L.S. (Published by Order of Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment, 18S5.) 

 THE botanical results of the voyage of the Challenger 

 hitherto published have been confined to the reports 

 of Mr. Moseley, sent home from time to time during the 

 voyage, along with collections of plants made by him, to 

 Kew, and published, along with lists of the species, in the 

 Journal of the Linnean Society. In the volume before 

 us we have the results of a more detailed working up of 

 the material thus obtained so far as it belongs to insular 

 floras. Mr. Hemsley, who is responsible for the book, 

 brings to his task botanical experience which begets the 

 liveliest confidence in the thoroughness and accuracy of 

 the work, and the volume will certainly compare with any 

 of those upon the zoological results of the voyage already 

 published. It is necessary to emphasise the fact that 

 Mr. Hemsley is the author of the book, for it is not patent 

 on first inspection. The title-page, where one naturally 

 looks for information upon the subject of authorship, tells 

 that the volume is published under the superintendence 

 of Mr. John Murray, who writes barely a page of preface, 

 but it says nothing of Mr. Hemsley, the author of the rest 

 of the book — over 900 pages — and it is only by turning 

 up the tabic of contents that his connection with the book 

 is found recorded. This may be consistent with uniformity 

 in the appearance of the Challenger publications, but 

 hardly, we think, w-ith consideration for the author. 



Although appearing amongst the scientific results of 

 the Challenger voyage, Mr. Hemsley's work has a con- 

 siderably wider basis than the botanical insular collections 

 made during that voyage. From the rich stores of the 

 herbaria at Kew and the British Museum he has sought 

 out and made use of collections and records of observa- 

 tions of travellers, both old and recent, so far as they 

 relate to islands from which Mr. Moseley procured speci- 

 mens, and he is thus enabled to present an account of all 

 that is known of the vegetation of these islands, — in some 

 cases their complete flora. The book is, then, no mere 

 descriptive synopsis of the botany of the Challenger Ex- 

 pedition. Its nature may be gathered from Mr. Hemsley's 

 own description : — 



" In the introductory notes on the vegetation of the 

 various islands included in the reports on the botany of 

 the Expedition are embodied tables showing the distribu- 

 tion of the genera and species of each island or group of 



islands. There are also observations on the composition, 

 affinities, &c., of the different insular floras, together with 

 references to the diverse agencies operating in the dis- 

 persal of plants, whilst numerous facts and suggestions 

 bearing upon the same subject are scattered throughout 

 the lists. Finally, the appendix to the third part of the 

 botany is devoted to the record of evidence of the part 

 played by oceanic currents and birds in the transport of 

 seeds from place to place. The general introduction is 

 not limited to a mere summary of the facts contained in 

 the reports, and speculations thereon ; it has been so ex- 

 tended as to form an epitome of the botany of a large 

 number of oceanic islands and of the Antarctic regions 

 generally. The special characteristics of insular vegeta- 

 tion in various parts of the world are set forth and com- 

 pared with continental vegetation ; and, as a whole, the 

 work may perhaps serve as an indication to travellers of 

 the nature and extent of the observations required for the 

 advancement of this most interesting subject." 



As to method the book is divided into four parts. The 

 first is a " Report on the Present State of Knowledge of 

 various Insular Floras," being an introduction to the 

 botany of the Challenger Expedition. The second and 

 third parts are Reports " On the Botany of the Bermudas 

 and various other Islands of the Atlantic and Southern 

 Oceans," namely, St. Paul's Rocks, Fernando Noronha, 

 Ascension, St. Helena, South Trinidad, Tristan d'Acunha 

 Group, and St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands, and the 

 chain of islands from the Prince Edward Group to the 

 Macdonald Group. The fourth part consists of a " Report 

 on the Botany of Juan Fernandez with Masafuera, San 

 Ambrosio, and San Felix, the South-Eastern Moluccas, 

 and the Admiralty Islands," to which is added an 

 Appendix " On the Dispersal of Plants by Oceanic 

 Currents and Birds." 



The scope of the volume is so comprehensive, and the 

 subject is in touch with so many of the interesting pro- 

 blems connected with plant-distribution, that in this 

 notice we must content ourselves with merely indicating 

 some of the more prominent features that characterise 

 the book. At the outset we may state that it abounds 

 with interesting and new facts, and the analytical tables 

 graphically representing various facts of distribution, 

 compiled evidently with great care, are exceedingly 

 striking, and bring out contrasts in a manner no amount 

 of writing could effect. 



The introductory part is really a series of essays upon 

 various interesting subjects connected with phytogeography, 

 which are mainly treated in their bearing on insular floras. 

 An early chapter deals with the classification of islands in 

 relation to the composition of their vegetation. Wallace's 

 classification of oceanic and continental islands, whilst 

 harmonising with the features of vegetation of many 

 islands, is not adapted, Mr. Hemsley thinks, for e.xhibit- 

 ing the floral peculiarities of islands generally. The 

 Bermudas and Galapagos, for example, included in 

 Wallace's oceanic group, cannot be fairly placed in the 

 same category. He therefore proposes a classification 

 which in effect, so far as it is apphed in this volume, 

 amounts to the subdividing of Wallace's oceanic group 

 into ancient, more recent, and new sub-groups. Islands 

 may be arranged, he says, for phytogeographic purposes, in 

 three categories, according to their endemic element, 



