Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific Between 1896 and 1899 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ...of Africa, Asia. Australia, and New Zealand. It is also especially a genus of oceanic islands, occurring not only in those of the Pacific but also in Madeira and Teneriffe in the Atlantic. Though found in most of the larger Pacific groups, it has apparently never been recorded from Samoa. From Hawaii ten species are known, all peculiar to that group. About half a dozen have been described from Fiji, of which three at least have been observed outside the group in the neighbouring Tongan Islands. Rarotonga possesses a peculiar species which, however, is so near to two other Fijian and Tongan species that, according to Cheeseman's memoir, they may have to be subsequently united. Tahiti is credited by Drake del Castillo with a solitary species widely distributed in the Old World, whilst in the Index Kewenszlr a peculiar species is assigned to it. They form small trees of the wooded mountain-slopes of Fiji; whilst in Hawaii, beside occurring in the lower forests, they may extend to altitudes of between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. In the connection that more or less exists between the species of the South Pacific archipelagoes, and in the endemic character of all the Hawaiian species, we see the principle exemplified that there are two regions of distribution in the islands of the tropical Pacific--the Hawaiian region and the South Pacific region. Before their dehiscence, the wrinkled, woody capsules would seem very unlikely to attract birds; but the observer on handling an opening fruit, with its orange or brightly coloured lining and displaying black or dark-purple seeds immersed in a semiliquid pulp, would form a different idea of the plant's capacity for this mode of dispersal. The mature dehiscing fruits are very conspicuous on the...