170 



nosed. I fully acknowledge the importance of these bacteria for the 

 littoral vegetation of the island but Ernst greatly exaggerates 

 where he says 1 ): ,,Die Leguminosen sind fur die Neu-Besiedelung 

 ,,der Insel von ganz besonderer Bedeutung geworden. Sie sind jetzt 

 ,,mit 16 Arten (Krakatao: 12) die 14 (Krakatao: 12) Gattungen ange- 

 ,,horen, im besonderen in der Pes-Caprae- und Barringtonia-iormation 

 ,,des Strandes, durch Vigna, Canavalia, Caesa/pinia und Mucuna auch 

 ,,in der Binnenlandflora vertreten und tibertreffen hier wie dort fast 

 ,,alle anderen baum- und strauchartigen Bltitenpflanzen an Individuen- 

 ,,zahl". This entirely misrepresents the situation in 1906; on the con- 

 trary the Leguminosae were restricted to the beach and the locality 

 immediately behind it, partly a former beach; they were not found 

 farther remote from the coast than a few meters. Caesalpinia and 

 Mucuna, cited by Ernst as Leguminosae of the interior, were in 

 1906 not at all found on Krakatao but only on Verlaten Eiland 2 ) 

 and the exploration of this last island in 1906 (of but one hour's 

 duration; area of the island about 1 1 1/2 km 2 .) was carried out only on 

 some parts of the beach and the locality immediately behind it. Two 

 years afterwards the same experience was again made on Krakatao: 

 not a single Leguininosa was found in the interior proper, and as 

 late as 1919 all Leguminosae found on Krakatao since the eruption, 

 had been collected on or quite near the beach, except perhaps 

 A/bizzia chinensis A/err, (habitat and frequency unknown, correctness 

 of determination doubtful), which was found in 1897 by Penzig 

 but was never afterwards found back and Mucuna acuminata D.C. 

 (habitat and frequency unknown) found in 1905 by Valeton. In 1919 

 Acschynomene indica L., a very common hygrophyte in the Javanese 

 rice-fields, was found on Verlaten Eiland, but this plant also was 

 growing quite near the sea. As late as 1919 Leguminosae took 

 practically no part in the vegetation of the interior. Nothing being 

 known about the flora of the interior of Krakatao before 1883, we 

 cannot make out whether the present lack of Leguminosae has 

 to be ascribed to lack or scarcity of these plants in the former 

 vegetation. But the conclusion seems to be warranted that, except 

 by the sea, introduction of Leguminosae does not or hardly ever 

 take place, unless one must suppose that seeds are imported 

 but do not grow up into plants because the pumice- and ash-fields 

 of Krakatao are unfit for their development. But as far as our 



l) Ernst, Neue Flora Vulkaninsel Krakatau (1907), p. 55. 



-) This also appears from the list given by Ernst himself (Neue Flora Vulkaninsel 

 Krakatau (1907), pp. 42, 431. 



