The Geographical Distribution of the Frankeniaceae ete. 413 
Relation of North American species to other regions, 
It has already been stated that F. grandifolia must undoubtedly be 
Chilan in its origin and that the continuous coast line between Chili and 
California would be sufficient to account for the means of distribution in 
general. Whether this occurred step by step along the coast or whether 
coast birds carried the seeds by long flights across the equator to the extra- 
tropical regions north may not be decided. From the entire absence of 
special mechanism for distribution the former method would seem the 
liklier. But in as much as the species has attained such a wide distribution 
into isolated basins shut off by mountains from the Californian coast, even 
to salt lakes 1200 m above the coast, the agency of birds would seem 
necessary. 
With F. Palmeri and F. Jamesü the case is entirely different. F. Pal- 
meri might occupy the same relation to Chili that F. grandifolia holds, 
from its position on the coast, but thus far no species of this section has 
been found in Chili. This relation could not, however, hold for F. Jamesii, 
which has no connection either with the coast or with the basin desert 
territory eastward. These are therefore, two more of the sharply defined 
isolated species. Their congeners are F. bracteata, F. glomerata and two 
or three other species from the endemic region of West Australia, the most 
pronounced types of that continent, and Niederleinia juniperoides from the 
salt-steppes of Argentine, a still more extreme type. As stated in the intro- 
duction to this article, the geographical conditions preclude the possibility 
of a direct transportation of seeds between these regions. It is more pro- 
bable that section Basigonia has at some time possessed a more general 
distribution than it now has. This question will be further discussed in 
part III of this article. 
6. Oceanic Islands. 
In addition to the inland salt-steppes and the coasts above considered, 
certain groups of islands also possess species of Frankeniaceae : 
(1.) The Cape Verde and Canary islands, which contain only F. laevis 
with some marked variations from the common Mediterranean form. 
(2.) The Island of Tasmania, which possesses the wide spread Australian 
F. pauciflora. 
(3.) Islands of San Felix and San Ambrosio, which contain a marked 
endemic species, F. Vidalii. This was described with the South 
American species. 
(4.) The Island of St. Helena. This island contains the monotypic genus 
Beatsonia. 
Beatsonia portulacoides Roxb. is no doubt rightly considered one of the 
indigenous plants of St. Helena, having been first collected by Beatson 
in 4813. This is the more certain in as much as the genus does not occur 
