Introduction

Abstract

The volcanic island Krakatao, in August 1883 devastated by a terrific eruption, has greatly interested botanists and zoologists ever since Treub in 1888¹⁾ published the results of his botanical excursion to that island in 1886. This almost universal interest was due to the fact that, on the authority of Treub, it was considered an irrefutable truth that the original flora and fauna of Krakatao had been wholly destroyed by the eruption. Hence it was thought that Krakatao presented the exeedingly rare occasion of tracing, step by step, how the flora and fauna are restored on an island, entirely deprived of its animal and vegetable life.

Whenever we have been furnished a fetish and have been taught to believe in it, and love it and worship it, and refrain from examining it, there is no evidence, howsoever clear and strong, that can persuade us to withdraw from it our loyalty and our devotion. Mark Twain.

Plus qu’ailleurs, le botaniste dans un pays tropical doit se munir de prudence et de méthode dans ses recherches. Mieux vaut, dans ce cas, être trop sceptique que de ne l’être pas assez. Treub.