Biology Pamphlets (Volume 458) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1912. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... THE DERIVATION OF THE FLORA OF HAWAII Owing to their extreme isolation, the Hawaiian Islands are of special interest both to the geographer and the biologist. With a combined area of 6,454 square miles, they are further removed from any continental area than is any other region of equal size upon the globe. They are 2,000 miles from North America, the nearest continent, and the nearest islands of any importance, the Marquesas, are 1,860 miles distant. There are two very different views held as to the origin of the archipelago. The one most commonly accepted is that the islands, which are entirely volcanic, were thrown up by volcanic activity from the ocean depths, and that they have always been completely isolated. At present the archipelago is surrounded by very deep water. Within forty miles of the shores the ocean is upward of 10,000 feet in depth, and between the islands and the American coast is an enormous area of deep water, in places reaching more than 20,000 feet in depth. It is believed by some students of the subject, however, that the islands have not always been so isolated as at present. This view has recently been taken by Pilsbry.1 The advocates of this theory believe that there was formerly a much larger area of land in the Pacific, including Hawaii, which was connected more or less intimately with the great land masses of the Southern Pacific, now represented by Australasia and Indo-Malaysia. The multitude of islands constituting Polynesia is believed to be merely the remains of a once extensive land mass, --either a single continent, or several large continental islands, like Australia. This great continental area has been undergoing subsidence since early Tertiary times, and the islands now existing are the tips of mountain masses, --often volc.