1891. J D. Prain— The Vegetation of the Coco Grotip. 363 



element in the Andamans flora. Bat a consideratiou of that section of 

 Table VIII in which they are detailed shows that they affoi'd little cor- 

 roboration of this hypothesis for there is only one species (Dedoelea Jiabel- 

 lum) restricted to the Andamans and Ceylon, and as this is a Cryptogam, 

 too great a reliance ought not to be placed on the fact ; Indian Grypto- 

 gams, other than ferns, have not as yet been assiduously collected and the 

 occurrence here of this Ceylon species perhaps indicates rather a wide 

 dispersion for it than any peculiar affinity of the flora of the group with 

 that of Ceylon. 



The general conclusion to which we are led by the evidence these 

 tables afford is, that the flora of the Coco Group is almost purely Trans- 

 gangetic, and that while this is the case there is no appreciable Chinese 

 or Australian element present. We have still to ascertain whether it is 

 an Indo-Chinese or a Malayan element that prevails in the flora, and 

 to what extent any independent element exists. 



From their geographical position we have to look upon the Coco 

 Islands as part of the Andaman Grroup : in one sense therefore all the 

 Coco Island species are Andamanese. But there are as many as 30 of 

 the species in the list,* or about 8 per cent, of the flora, whose presence 

 in the Andamans is due only to their having been found in the Coco 

 Group. At the same time, however, it must be remembered that 19 

 species, or over 5 per cent, of the flora, are peculiar to the Andamans as 

 a whole, not occurring either in Indo-China or in Malaya, while 24 

 more are only known as Indo-Chinese from their presence in Tenasserim.f 

 Of these 24 Andamans-Tenasserim species, 22, or 6 per cent, of the flora, 

 are confined to these two districts, only two of them extending even as 

 far as the Malay Peninsula. The bearing of this peculiar distribution in 

 the Andamans and in Tenasserim, but neither northward to Indo-China 

 nor southward to Malaya, the writer has already had occasion to note ;J 

 it will be referred to again below in connection with the probable origin 

 of the Coco Island flora. Another circumstance that must be borne in 

 mind is that as yet very little is known of the flora of North Andaman, 

 and it is not improbable that some of the 30 Non-Andaman Coco species 

 will yet be found to occur in that island. § 



* Indicated in the list of distribution by [] brackets in the Andamans column. 



f Indicated by [] brackets in the Indo-Chinese column. 



J Ann. Boy. Bot. Garden, vol. iii, p. 238. 



§ As an example of this possibility may be instanced Dendrocalamus 8trictus 

 which does not occur in South Andaman. Mr. Godwin- Austen, formerly of Port 

 Blair, one of the very few officers who have ascended Saddle Peak, the highest 

 point of North Andaman, has informed the writer that at one point in the ascent a 

 Bamboo is met with quite different from the Bamboos near Port Blair ; not very 



47 



