This circumstance
of insects (and I may add plants), where few in number, belonging
to many different families, is, I believe, very general. Mr.
Waterhouse, who has published an account of the insects of this
archipelago, and to whom I am indebted for the above details,
informs me that there are several new genera; and that of the
genera not new, one or two are American, and the rest of mundane
distribution. (17/4. "Annals and Magazine of Natural History"
volume 16 page 19.) With the exception of a wood-feeding Apate, and
of one or probably two water-beetles from the American continent,
all the species appear to be new.
The botany of this group is fully as interesting as the zoology.
Dr. J. Hooker will soon publish in the "Linnean Transactions" a
full account of the Flora, and I am much indebted to him for the
following details. Of flowering plants there are, as far as at
present is known, 185 species, and 40 cryptogamic species, making
together 225; of this number I was fortunate enough to bring home
193. Of the flowering plants, 100 are new species, and are probably
confined to this archipelago. Dr. Hooker conceives that, of the
plants not so confined, at least 10 species found near the
cultivated ground at Charles Island have been imported.
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