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272 



destroyed in 1883, though spores and seeds may have survived. As 

 to the mode of introduction of these epiphytes nothing is known 

 with certainty. It may have been done by the wind. It is probable, 

 though not proven, that after 1908 a number of ruderal weeds were 

 introduced by human influence. - Very many fungi were found, 

 especially in the moist ravines. Their spores may have been introduced 

 by the wind after 1883 though such need not at all to have happened. 

 Other modes of introduction are possible, a number of mycelia may 

 have survived the eruption. 



So the expeditions of 1919 have only confirmed the well-known 

 rule that a secondary tropical forest protected from, or at least not 

 continually or too heavily attacked by its three most dangerous 

 foes, man, cattle and fire, tends to increase in size and in the number 

 of species. But these expeditions have contributed nothing at all to 

 answering the questions put on the first page of this paper. By the 

 answers to these questions we should measure the success of the 

 endeavours to solve the Krakatao-problem. Hence the botanical 

 expeditions to Krakatao in 1919, when considered from a scientific 

 view-point, were a complete failure. 



