276 D. Prain— A List of Diamond Island Plants. [No. 4, 



interior jungle; Scindapsus officinalis is very common everywhere in the 

 interior and coast zones alike and is the principal epiphyte. Not a 

 single orchid was seen anywhere in the island. A few Fungi were 

 found growing on dead wood ; the season of the visit was apparently 

 unsuitable for terrestrial species. 



The visit of H. M.'s I. M. Survey Steamer "Investigator", in 

 November 1889, to leave a survey-party is not the first scientific visit 

 that has been paid to this island. Almost exactly one hundred years 

 before it was visited by Captain Kyd and Lieut. Colebrooke* who in 

 December 1789 determined its position, both absolutely and in relation 

 to the adjacent headland on the Arracan coast. It is not probable that 

 botanical collection engaged the attention of these officers ; but during 

 another visit by a scientific party (April 1866) in H. M's. I. M. S. S. 

 " Prince Arthur " Mr. Kurz, who was on board, landed and collected a few 

 specimens. Mr. Kurz makes a very interesting remark on this visit 

 which is worth repeating here : — " I had only a few minutes stay at 

 " Diamond Island in Pegu, but I was struck, when afterwards coming 

 " to the Andamans, by the similarity, nay rather identity, of the shore 

 " vegetation. "t The present collection is itself the result of only a few 

 hours' work, and is larger than it otherwise could have been, owing to 

 the help given by Dr. Alcock, Surgeon-Naturalist of the " Investigator," 

 who devoted the time during which the state of the tide prevented him 

 from being on the reefs to assisting the writer in obtaining specimens of 

 plants. The 95 species that it includes form it is true only a part of 

 what the island would yield to any one whose stay there could ' be pro- 

 longed ; but it is hardly too much to assume that they are fairly re- 

 presentative of the flora of this island. And as its geographical position 

 and geological structure both point to it as the first stepping-stone in 

 the series of islands connecting Arracan with Sumatra (through the 

 Andamans and Nicobars) the nature of the flora seems worthy of investi- 

 gation. 



The following is the method of presentation adopted: — 



1. A list of the plants collected is given ; any interesting feature 

 as regards a particular species is noted where it seems necessary to do 

 so, and in every case the dissemination of the species is adverted to. 



2. A tabular view of the distribution of the species is presented, 



* Asiatic Eesearches, Vol. IV, p. 317 ; the date of this visit was 14th December 

 1789. 



f Report on the Vegetation of the Andaman Islands, (1870) p. 15. Mr. Kurz uses 

 the word Pegu in an extended sense which means all Lower Burma ; Diamond Island 

 belongs to Arracan, not to Pegu proper ; Mr. Kurz's remark itself will be discussed 

 further on. 



