Taylor . — Endemism in the Bahama Flora. 527 
America, while 7 per cent, of Bahama endemics are found in genera 
that so far as known are confined otherwise to the Florida mainland. 
There also appears to be about 5 per cent, of genera containing endemics 
which are confined to the Florida-Bahama-West Indies region, and if 
this study were more extensive geographically they would be considered 
endemic genera. They are all woody plants. These Floridian-Bahamian- 
West Indian genera, with the number of Bahamian endemic species, are 
as follows : 
Tomcbia with i Bahama endemic 
Rhaco?na ,, i „ ,, 
Malachc „ i „ ,, 
Ernodea ., 4 ,, endemics 
These 76 genera, together with those in which no endemic species are 
found, make up the present flora of the Bahamas. As we have shown 
above, the distribution of this flora, both endemic and non-endemic, does not 
differ greatly, nor does there appear to be any reason why there should be 
any fundamental difference in the forces that have controlled the distribution 
of these plants over the archipelago. There can be no essential age 
difference so far as occupancy of the islands by their flora is concerned, 
whether the genera happen to contain endemics or not. 
The present distribution of the endemics presents certain features that 
demand further study in the field. Recorded below are the percentages 
found in the different regions of the Bahamas, followed by a brief discussion 
of what these figures appear to indicate. It should be borne in mind that 
Great Bahama Bank and Little Bahama Bank include all the islands now 
exposed on them. As we have shown, the individual islands in either of 
these groups must have once been connected with one another but not with 
those of the other group. Nor has there ever been any connexion of either 
group with the scattered and isolated islands to the south. The percentages 
are as follows : 
Distribution of Bahama Endemics on Islands of the Little Bahama Bank , 
Great Bahama Bank , or on Isolated Islands. 
1. On Little Bahama Bank only ........ 5.3 
2. On Great Bahama Bank only . . . . . . 22-7 
3. On separate islands only ........ . 35.6 
4. On Little find Great Bahama Banks only . . . . . . 1 1.4 
5. On Little Bahama Bank, Great Bahama Bank, and separate islands . 9.9 
6. On Great Bahama Bank and separate islands only . . . . 15-1 
These percentages show some interesting features of the dispersal of 
endemi.cs. In the first place the largest land mass, the Great Bahama 
Bank, has only 22*7 per cent, of the total endemics that are peculiar to it 
and now confined to the islands that outcrop from it. The second largest 
land mass, represented by the islands on the Little Bahama Bank, has only 
5-3 per cent, of the total endemic flora of the archipelago. In other words, 
M rn 2 
