Island floras have a facination of their own–especially from the days of Charles Darwin. It is generally realised that our knowledge about the flora and fauna of small tropical islands throughout the globe is meagre and quite poor. In view of this, it was felt that an effort should be made to throw light on this dark area of study. The Andaman and Nicobar group of islands present and ideal challenge from this point of view. Though part of the Indian nation, they are geographically somewhat isolated and are closer to Burma and Indonesia than to the mainland of the Indian peninsula. When we started work, we were surprised to find that not a single fresh-water alga had been recorded or described from this area. "The present account incorporates the description of 587 taxa, of which 114 are blue-greens, 203 diatoms and 270 comprise the green algae. Besides, a very large number of algal collections could not be identified because of various reasons e.g. lack of fertile or perfect stages of growth or insufficient material or inadequate preservation (e.g. Volvocales). Doubtful forms were left out. Practical considerations forced us to confine ourselves to the above-mentioned three groups only. The various points of collection are shown in the diagrammatic sketch map.
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