174 



species *) is due to the fact that on Krakatao there is no locality fit for it. Destruction 

 by crabs of seeds washed ashore does not take place. I he great number of coco-palms 

 is remarkable. 



The seeds of some littoral plants may have been carried over by birds either exo- 

 zoically or endozoically. In the last way birds may have carried over at least 9 littoral 

 species -). Though, with birds, the time between the consuming of food and the removal 

 of the undigested rests of it from the intestine tract is not long (sometimes only V2 3 /4 

 hour, usually 1V2-3 hours), this is not to be considered an insurmountable obstacle for the 

 transport of seeds, because the distance between Krakatao and the surrounding islands 

 is but short. Also plants of the interior, Ficus for instance, may have been introduced 

 by birds. For Verlaten Eiland, which was inhabited during some time 3 ), introduction 

 of a plant, Car/eg Papaya L. (a rapidly growing, in the Dutch Indies commonly cultivated 

 fruit-tree) by birds is possible. 



As it appeared during T r e u b's visit in 1886 the wind has been of great import- 

 ance for the development of the new flora. Before the results of F r e u b ' s trip had 

 been published most botanists were of opinion that the wind carried to remote islands 

 only spores of ferns and lower Cryptogams but hardly any fruits or seeds. I hat, as a 

 matter of fact, these latter must sometimes have been carried over was deduced from 

 the piesence of higher plants on coral islands. Some botanists however ascribe to the 

 wind especially in the higher regions of the air a more important role though they 

 also are of opinion that transport over long distances only very rarily takes place. 

 I he fact that in the East Indian Archipelago very remote mountain-tops bear the 

 same species absent in the regions between, is ascribed by Beccari to the wind 

 which, at least in the West-monsoon when it blows regularly, carries the often 

 very small seeds from west to east *). According to the same author this transport 

 can also have taken place for a part by birds. Against the first supposition of 

 Beccari Ernst adduces the well-known statement of | u n g h u h n ") that above 



1 ) The number given by Ernst is rather low; in reality it is more than double so 

 large. Mangrove-components in the East Indian Archipelago are i.a: Acanthus ebracteatus 

 Vahl, ilicifolius L. and volubilis Wall.; Acrostichum aureum L,; Aegia/itis annulata R. 

 Br.; Aegiceras corniculatum Blanco and floridum R. et Sch.; Avicennia marina Vierh. and 

 officinalis L.; Brownlowia argentata Kur'z and lanceo/ata Bth.; Bruguiera caryophylloides 

 Bl., eriopcta/a W. et A., gymncirrhiza Lamk. and parviflora W. et A.; Caesalpinia nuga Ait.; 

 (*~erbera rnanghas L.; Cer/ops candolleana Ant. and roxburghiana Arn.; derodendron 

 inerme Gartn.; Cryptocoryne ciliata Fisch.; Cumingia philippinensis Vidal; Cynanchum 

 carnosum Schlec/it.; Cynometra ramiflora /..; Dalbergia menoeides I'rain and torta Crah.; 

 Derris heterophy/la Backer; Diplac/ine po/ystachya Backer (=D. fusca Auct.); Dolichan- 

 drcine spathacea Schum,; Excoecaria Agallocha L.;Fimbristylis ferruginea Vahl;Finlaysonia 

 maritima (Bl.) Backer; Gymnanthera paludosa Schum.; Heritiera littoralis Dryand.; Ixora 

 timoriensis Decsne; Kandelia candel Druce; Lumnitzera littorea Voigt and racemosa 

 Willd.; Ncphrolepis acutifolio Christ (epiphytic); Nipa fruticans Wurmb; Oncosperma 

 tigi/laria Kid/.; I'aramignya littoralis Kurz; Phoenix paludosa Roxb.; Pithecolobium umbel- 

 latum Btli.; Rhizophora conjugata L., mucronata Lamk. and stylosa Griff.; Sarcolobus 

 Banksii R. et Sch.; Scyphiphora hydrop/tyllacea Gartn.; Sesuvium portulacastrum L.; 

 Sonneratia acida L. fil., alba Smith and ovata Backer; Viscum orientale L. (epiphytic 

 parasite); Xerochloa imberbis R. Br.; Xylocarpus granatum Koen. and moluccensis Lamk. 



2 ) To these nine Ernst (Neue Flora Vulkaninsel Krakatau (1907) p. 61) reckons 

 also Clerodendron inerme Gartn. to which he wrongly ascribes juicy fruits. The fruits 

 of this plant have a thick dry wall and are spread by water. 



3 ) This is an error. Not Verlaten Eiland but Lang Eiland (See p. 84 seq.) was 

 inhabited during some time before 1906. 



4 ) It is not clear how somewhat heavy seeds or fruits of low terrestrial herbs 

 living in dense forests can be carried upwards by the wind which shakes the tops of 

 the trees but does not reach the soil. Yet on very distant mountains the same 

 terrestrial plants occur in such forests, f.i. Coleus galeatus Bth. Impatiens chonoceras 

 Hassk. Melissa parviflora Bth. Ranunculus diffusus D. C. The fruits or seeds of none 

 of these plants possess either anemochorous or zoochorous adaptations. They are far 

 too heavy to be carried upward (in the forest) by ascending air-currents. 



8 ) See | u n g h u h n, |ava, 2nd Dutch Edition I, 225; German Edition I, 166. This 

 statement has since proved incorrect. See Brajk, Het Klimaat van Nederlandsch Indie 

 p. 11 in anr>., pp. 75- 76, 77. 



