66 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
A COLLECTING TRIP THROUGH FIJI. 
(By E. J. Goddard, B.A., B.Sc.) 
Some two years ago it was my good fortune to be asked to 
accompany Dr. W. G. Woolnough on a scientific expedition to 
Viti Leyu, the main island of the Fiji Group. The object of 
the expedition was to collect evidence (geological and bio- 
logical) which might throw light on the origin of Fiji; in 
other words, to determine whether Fiji was of continental or 
oceanic origin. 
Dr Woolnough had previously made a trip through the 
island, and had collected evidences which served to show that 
the continental origin was the correct one. 
In this short account an attempt will be made to give a 
general idea of the fauna and flora of the island. Before doing 
so perhaps it would not be out of place to point out some of 
the salient features in the fauna and flora of any island which 
would be characteristic of continental and oceanic origins 
respectively. 
Mr. Hedley, F.L.8., of the Australian Museum, has written 
some very interesting notes on the subject of the Zoogeography 
of the Mid-Pacific. If an island is of continental origin, one 
would expect to find.among its fauna organisms which had 
arisen from the same stock as many of those found on the 
mainland. The variation between these organisms and their 
kinsmen of the mainland would be dependent chiefly on the 
period of time which had elapsed since the separation of the 
island from the mainland. Australia has been so long 
separated from the other great land masses of the world that 
it has developed a fauna of its own which is widely different 
from that of other parts, namely, its peculiar marsupial fauna. 
In comparing the fauna and flora of any island with those of 
another land mass, with a view of considering land connection 
between them, attention must be restricted to forms incapable 
of transmigration. In the case of an oceanic island, forms of 
animal and vegetable life will be those capable of trans- 
migration. 
After preliminary preparations in Suva a start was made for 
the interior. Running, along the coast in a small steamer 
within the reef, the mouth of the Rewa River was reached. 
We then proceeded through one of the numerous channels of 
the delta of this river to the main stream. Along the sides of 
all the channels of the delta was a thick and massive growth 
of mangrove. Eventually, after a varied experience of Fijian 
steamer travelling, we reached a town known as Bau Levu. 
This is at the head of tidal waters. So far we had been 
passing through alluvial country. Thence we proceeded by 
native canoes, and, after two days’ travelling, reached a native 
town—Naivucini—situated on the Wai-ni-mala River, which 
