Aph., 1890 . 
OCEANIC ISLANDS. 
91 
presumed to be so spread, at any rate these plants are found 
on most tropical shores. Thirdly, on the island itself there 
are, where they have not been displaced by the weeds, the 
regular ancient vegetation of the island, and such birds, 
reptiles, and insects as belong to it. I do not assert that 
it is always possible to say for certain into which class a 
particular species is to be placed, except in the case of 
those which are found on Fernando de Noronlia, and no¬ 
where else in the world. Of such it is quite safe to assume 
that they are entirely indigenous. Some approximate figures 
—I cannot yet give them with any accuracy—may possibly 
render what I have to say more clear. Of animals, of all 
orders and species from the turtle to the mosquito, which 
inhabit the island and neighbouring waters there are about 
250 kinds only, and of this small number at least thirty are 
peculiar to the island. And these include two birds, a 
lizard, and a snake. Of plants the same can be said, as 
the whole number, including every vegetable grown in a 
garden, does not reach 300, and of these some 22 are not 
found elsewhere. And the same is true of all such islands. 
A very large proportion of its indigenous fauna and flora is 
peculiar to each island. The great tortoises are peculiar to 
the Galapagos Archipelago, several trees to the Canaries, 
while forests of endemic trees in St. Helena have been 
exterminated by the ravages of goats. 
For thus it is that when man arrives he brings with him 
vermin of all orders, and the ancient things disappear before 
the invasion. This is happening ruthlessly in Fernando de 
Noronlia, where great trailing leguminosse smother the 
native bushes wherever cultivation has not extirpated 
them, or, as in the case of the forests, the axe has spared a 
few trees. Some, it is true, will hold their ground, but only 
in such rocky places as are too barren even to grow pumpkins. 
But let me suppose that we visit such an island in the 
first ship that touches there. Let us banish the thought of 
the weeds and devote ourselves to the problen how, when 
the eruption that first reared the island above the waves had 
subsided, the population arrived. The ferns which form so 
large a part of the Hawaiian vegetation are easily accounted 
for. They are plants with very minute spores, and may have 
arrived by wind, and found a congenial home. Fernando 
was not congenial. There is only one fern there, and its 
tenure of life seems ever precarious. Some of the ferns 
peculiar to Hawaii may have been common elsewhere at one 
time but subsequently have become extinct. This must 
remain conjecture into which I now must plunge you. 
