288 



ISLAND LIFE 



PART II 



Flora of the Galapagos. — The plants of these islands are 

 so much more numerous than the known animals, even 

 including the insects, they have been so carefully studied 

 by eminent botanists, and their relations throw so much 

 light on the past history of the group, that no apology is 

 needed for giving a brief outline of the peculiarities and 

 affinities of the flora. The statements we shall make on 

 this subject will be taken from the Memoir of Sir Joseph 

 Hooker in the Linncean Transactions for 1851, founded 

 on Mr. Darwin's collections, and a later paper by N. J. 

 Andersson in the Linnma of 1861, embodying more recent 

 discoveries. 



The total number of flowering plants and ferns known at 

 the latter date was 332, of which 174 were peculiar to the 

 islands, while 158 were common to other countries.^ Of 

 these latter at least twenty have been introduced by man, 

 while the remainder are all natives of some part of 

 America, though about a third part are species of wide 

 range extending into both hemispheres. Of those confined 

 to America, forty- two are found in both the northern and 

 southern continents, twenty-one are confined to South 

 America, while twenty are found only in North America, 

 the West Indies, or Mexico. This equality of North 

 American and South American species in the Galapagos 

 is a fact of great significance in connection with the 

 observation of Sir Joseph Hooker that the peculiar species 

 are allied to the plants of temperate America or to those 

 of the high Andes, while the non-peculiar species are 

 mostly such as inhabit the hotter regions of the tropics 

 near the level of the sea. He also observes that the seeds 

 of this latter class of Galapagos plants often have special 

 means of transport, or belong to groups whose seeds are 

 known to stand long voyages and to possess great vitality. 

 Mr Bentham also, in his elaborate account of the Com- 

 positse,^ remarks on the decided Central American or 



is derived from the fine work of Professor Federico Johow, Flora de las 

 Islas de Juan Fernandez, 1896 ; published by the Chilian Government. 



^ No additions appear to have been made to this flora down to 1900, 

 when Mr. Hemsley gave a general account of the botany of the islands 

 in the Gardener's Chronicle, p. 177. 



2 Journal of the Linnean Society, Yol. XIIL, "Botany," p. 556. 



