6 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bishop Miiscuiu. 



scarcity, indeed the almost total absence of Coryphcac. in all the Polynesian archi- 

 pelagos, with the exception of Pritchardia and Pritchardiopsis. we mav regard the 

 latter as surviving members of a type of palms, once widely diffused, but now 

 almost wholly swallowed up with the hypothetical lands of the Pacific. 



The great precinctiveness of the species of Pritchardia in Hawaii proves 

 that their dispersal, even locally, is difficult. No species of Pritchardia is found 

 represented on more than one island. It happens sonielimcs, however, that ripe 

 fruits of some species of Pritchardia, Gaudichaudii for instance, falling on the 

 ground take root around the mother plant and form small stands when they grow 

 up. Pr. Bcccariaua alone according to Professor Rock is to be met with as numer- 

 ous scattered individuals in the rain forests of Glenwood on Hawaii. But more 

 often the trees of PritcJiardia grow isolated, and at heights varying from i,ooo to 

 1,200 meters on inaccessible cliff's, exposed to terrific winds. According to Pro- 

 fessor Rock, certain species of Pritchardia on Hawaii are found in the dark forests, 

 growing among stately trees, while on the lee side of that island, they come down 

 to 600 meters and even lower, near the sea level. On Oahu the palms are confined 

 to the summits of ridges and to the steep slopes of valleys. The more or less 

 globose fruits of some isolated trees may fall on the ground, roll down to the bot- 

 tom of the ridge or slope where they grow, and be carried by heavy rains into 

 the valleys below, or be caught in some crevice of the rocks; but how those palms 

 which wave the crown of their leaves against the sky on the crests of the most 

 inaccessible ridges, have managed to establish themselves at such a height, and 

 what can have carried their seeds thither is as yet a puzzle. The fruits of some 

 species, such as Pr. Hillehrandi and Pr. atHiiis. have a moderately fleshy mesocarj) 

 of pleasant taste, which recalls that of a date. They are small enough to be 

 swallowed for the sake of the pulp by pigeons, such as Myrisficii'ora and Carpo- 

 pJiaga; these birds indeed are among the most eft'ective agents of dispersal of the 

 fruits of many plants in Papuasia and Polynesia. They are however unknown in 

 the Hawaiian Islands. On the other hand it must be acknowledged that the palms 

 which produce the above mentioned kind of fruits, especially Pritchardia affiiiis 

 and its varieties, are the more dift'used species and are represented by allied forms 

 on islands even at a distance from the central group, such as Pr. rcmota from 

 Nihoa or Bird Island, to say nothing of Pritchardia laiiaiciisis. Perhaps also the 

 two species of the Dangerous Archipelago are related to Pr. affiiiis. 



In consecjuence of these considerations it is allowable to suppose that at some 

 time, when greater terrestrial connections existed between the remoter islands of 

 eastern Polynesia and those of Papuasia and occidental Polynesia, the Columbidae 

 may have been the agents which contributed even more than ocean currents to stock 

 with, palms the islands of the Plawaiian group; but as I have pointed out' no 

 species of Ficus form part of the indigenous Hawaiian flora, while the fruits of 

 these trees are among the best liked by that family of birds. If the Columbidae 



3 Male^ia, vol. Ill, p. 316. 



