OF THF MALDIVB ISLANDS. 
161 
and would perhaps be indicated by a greater generic 
endemism in the flora than is actually the case. The 
endemics of Rodriguez, as we might expect from what has 
been said, consist in great part of Rubiaceæ, Compositæ, 
Asclepiadaceæ, Verbenaceæ, Palms, Selaginellas, &c. Some 
of them show Asiatic affinities, but if we suppose land to 
have formerly occupied parts of the present sites of the 
Maidive and Chagos Archipelagos, there is no difficulty in 
accounting for their passage. It is evident from the facts 
above given that if there were but an inland part, where the 
wind and bird-borne species could be free from the competi- 
tion of the littorals, and from the unfavourable soil and 
climate of the shore, species with any reasonably good 
distribution mechanism suited to birds or wind could get 
across from Ceylon to Africa or vice versâ. Taking now the 
case of the Seychelles,, we find in them 60 endemics, which 
include 14 Rubiaceæ, 6 Vascular Cryptogams, 6 Palms, 
3 Pandani, 2 Compositæ, 2 Orchids, and others. Here, 
again, the facts fit in well with the views expressed above. 
There is probably no need to assume complete land connec- 
tions across the Indian Ocean to explain the floras of its 
islands, or perhaps even the affinities of the African and 
Indian floras, but we must almost certainly assume that 
formerly there were larger islands in the present places 
occupied by the Maldives, Chagos, and Rodriguez (see map). 
There are, as is well known, other oceanic islands, in 
which, for the full explanation of the flora, it is necessary, so 
far as our present state of knowledge goes, to assume former 
continental connection or great land extension, but for the 
islands of the tropical Indian Ocean this is perhaps un- 
necessary. The present paper, however, is hardly the place 
for a full discussion of the question. Let us, in conclusion, 
briefly consider the bearings of the facts of the Laccadive- 
Maldive-Chagos flora on the question of the former greater 
land area of these groups. If we suppose that in former 
times there was a large area of land, whether insular or 
