426 
PACIFIC EXPLORATION: W. G. FARLOW 
been studied by competent algologists who have made large collections 
during a residence there; hence a new expedition will not spend more 
than a comparatively short time there. The case of the Philippines is 
peculiar. Although many expeditions have stopped there, the col- 
lections have been scanty and probably they do not fairly represent the 
marine flora of those large islands. Nevertheless it does not seem to be 
advisable to send a special expedition there for the study of algae be- 
cause there is now in the Philippines a number of resident botanists 
who are able to collect year in and year out; and more is to be 
expected of them than from an expedition moving from one part of the 
Pacific to another. On the other hand the relation of the flora of the 
Philippines to that of the Caroline and Ladrone Islands ought to be 
closely studied. We have a limited knowledge of the species of those 
two groups obtained from various expeditions; and quite recently the 
Japanese algologist, Okamura, has published a paper on the Caroline 
algae. Other regions the relation of whose marine flora should be com- 
pared with that of the Pacific Islands are the Bismarck Archipelago 
and adjoining regions of which there are numerous, short scattered 
notices and the more eastern islands of the Dutch East Indies where 
collections have been recently made by the Siboga Expedition. It is 
hardly necessary to send a new expedition to those regions whose flora 
is being well studied by competent experts. 
After this statement of the regions to which it is inadvisable to send an 
expedition for the reasons given above, we may turn to a more exact 
consideration of the regions more in need of exploration. As has been 
said, the islands l}dng in or near the trade routes from Australia and New 
Zealand to North America have not infrequently been visited by botan- 
ists. These islands are the Fiji, the Samoa and the Friendly Islands 
groups. One of the more important papers on these groups is that of 
Grunow on the algae collected by Von Graeffe, including about 120 
species. The distinguished algologist, W. H. Harvey, also issued a set 
of Friendly Island algae. From these and other papers we know the 
main features of these islands, but there must be much more to be 
learned about them. We would advise a new exploring expedition 
to make either Fiji or Samoa a base of operations. Starting thence 
as a centre, a year could be well spent in a careful study of the whole 
group of Polynesian Islands, the Friendly Islands to the Marquesas 
on the northeast and Pitcairn's Island on the southeast. Another 
year, or better more, should be spent in traversing the Solomon Islands 
to the Caroline and Ladrone groups returning by the Gilbert and Mar- 
shall Islands to Samoa and thence to Hawaii on the return voyage. 
