213 
and the Problem of Endemism . 
and shrubs in the non-endemic element and their much greater frequency in 
the endemic element was invariably found in the ancient floras examined 
and is briefly set forth in Table III . 1 
Table III. 
Non-endemic Species . Endemic Species . 
Woody %. 
Herbaceous %. 
Woody %. 
Herbaceous %. 
Australia 
38 
62 
73 
27 
New Zealand 
19 
81 
49 
5 1 
Hawaii 
24 
76 
85 
15 
Fiji 
74 
26 
98 
2 
Galapagos 
20 
80 
59 
41 
Juan Fernandez 
6 
94 
82 
18 
St. Helena 
27 
73 
77 
23 
Socotra 
I 5 
85 
76 
24 
Mauritius 
41 
59 
87 
13 
Ceylon 
55 
45 
77 
23 
In all of these regions the non-endemic element, presumably the original 
stock, contains a comparatively small proportion of woody forms ; but the 
presumably recent endemic element contains a percentage which averages 
well over twice as high. This necessarily implies that the production of new 
species since the colonization of the island has been very much more rapid 
among trees and shrubs than among herbs. The writer has recently brought 
forward evidence 2 that just the opposite is apparently the case, and that herbs, 
from the brevity of their life cycles and their consequent ability to accumulate 
heritable changes more quickly, are producing new species much faster than 
are woody plants, where the generation or period from seed to seed is very 
much longer. 
Another objection to the { age and area’ hypothesis is that it necessarily 
implies a greater antiquity for the herbaceous than for the woody vegetation 
of the earth. The fact above mentioned, that in all ‘ ancient ’ floras the non- 
endemic element is preponderantly herbaceous, must mean that the original 
plant population of those regions was composed overwhelmingly of her- 
baceous species. The general rule which we have cited, that herbaceous 
species have a much greater average range than woody ones, also implies 
the greater antiquity of the herbaceous type, if we follow Willis. The 
consensus of opinion among botanists and geologists, however, is diametrically 
opposed to this view on account of the abundant evidence that the primitive 
Angiosperms were woody plants, and that the bulk of our modern herbaceous 
vegetation is of comparatively recent origin. 
In connexion with the hypothesis that s dying out ’ of species rarely 
takes place, we have already spoken of evidence that many plants seem on 
the high road to extinction. Whether in every case, as Dr. Willis believes, 
this is due to ‘accident’ or not, it seems to have been a very common 
1 Dicotyledons alone considered. 
2 Sinnott, E. W. : Comparative Rapidity of Evolution in Various Plant Types. American 
Naturalist, vol. 1 , 1916, p. 466. 
Q 
