502 Hems ley. 
previous experience in selecting specimens of plants, and many 
unmistakable novelties were insufficient for description. This 
collection came chiefly from Shortland, Treasury, and Faro, 
small islands in Bougainville Straits. Last year the Rev. R. B. 
Comins brought home a small though interesting collection 
from San Christoval, which is situated in the extreme south- 
east of the group. Here again the specimens are often 
inadequate for satisfactory description, consequently we must 
await further material. Happily there is a chance of obtaining 
this, as Mr. Comins has returned to the islands with a better 
idea of what is required for botanical purposes. 
Notwithstanding the incompleteness of the collections of 
plants hitherto made in the islands they are sufficient to enable 
us to judge of the general character of the flora, and to under- 
stand its affinities. Of the aspects and striking features of the 
flora much may be learnt from Dr. Guppy’s book referred to 
above, and from the writings of Mr. C. M. Woodford 1 . 
There are two specially noteworthy features in the composition 
of the flora, namely, the presence of distinct endemic generic 
types, associated with rare Malayan and Polynesian types, 
as distinguished from the shore plants of very wide or general 
distribution in the tropics. The almost total absence of 
Australian types in the collections is more remarkable, though 
we must not assume that they are actually so rare as would 
appear. Even the widely dispersed and conspicuous Metro- 
sideros polymorpha is not among the plants collected. Indeed, 
with the exception of an undetermined species of Grevillea , 
and Dendrobium hispidum , there is nothing to indicate any 
connection. On the other hand the presence of Riedelia 
curviflora and Lepinia taitensis , point to a flora of consider- 
able age and wider area. The former has hitherto only been 
collected in the island of Burn, some 35 degrees west of the 
Solomon Islands, and the latter only in Tahiti, about 50 
degrees to the east. Lepinia is a most singular member of 
the Apocynaceae, described and figured by Decaisne 2 in 1849. 
1 See Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1890, f. 393. 
2 Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3 me serie, xii. p. 160. t. 9. 
