"The peculiar character of the Vegetation on the Galapagos Islands was brought to scientific attention in 1847 by Sir . His flora of the archipelago, based chiefly upon the collections of Charles Darwin, showed clearly that these islands, although small in extent, volcanic in character, and only five hundred to six hundred miles from Ecuador, possess a vegetation striking in individuality and very unlike that of the adjacent mainland. Darwin, who visited the Galapagos on the memorable voyage of the " ," landed on four of the islands (, , , and ). He was able to spend only a few days upon each, and naturally much of his attention was devoted to the general topography, the geology, and especially the peculiar fauna; moreover the season was one of drought; yet he was able to collect 201 different plants. These, supplemented by smaller collections (chiefly those of & , , and ), enabled Hooker to include in his enumeration 239 species, of which no less than 107 were described as new to science, thus indicating an extraordinary endemic element of nearly forty-five per cent of the whole flora of the islands, a proportion which became still more remarkable when the imperfectly represented s, and certain s, believed to be artificially introduced s, were omitted from consideration."