144 ME. J. BALL 0]S* THE BOTAT^T 



Cyperus LuzTJLiE, Bottl. This appears to be confined to the 

 equatorial zone of South America. 



EnT>^CH0SP0EA TENTHS, ?Fi77r/. =Dichronema gracilis, Kimtli. 

 A species with a wide rangein tropical America, extending south- 

 ward to Montevideo and northward to Mexico and Cuha. It is 

 not to be confounded with the very similar ^^ecie^, Eli. sjjermodon 

 of (j:v\^Q\>diQ\i=^Dichro7i€ma setacea^ Kunth. The latter has nearly 

 as wide a range in tropical America, and, according to Buckeler, 

 extends also to Australia. 



FiMBUisTTLis POLTMOKPHA, ^Of?/*;/., var. = !P. laxa, Valil. A 

 cosmopolitan species, with a wide range in the tropics and the 

 warmer temperate zones. 



Ftjirena tjmbellata, Botlh. Like the last, this species ex- 

 tends round the world, but appears to be confined to the tropics. 



Paspalum conjugatum, Berg^ yar. ? The spikes are shorter 

 and the florets decidedly larger than in numerous specimens from 

 other parts of tropical America. The species is widely spread in 

 tropical America, and also, as it appears, in tropical Africa. 



Panicum poltgonatum, Schrad, A tropical American species. 



Me^^iscittm: beticulatum, Stv. Equatorial America. 



Ltcopodium cebkuijm, i. Widely spread through the 

 warmer regions of the world. 



I did not attempt to collect arborescent ferns, of which several 

 species were seen; and it is needless to say that, under the cir- 

 cumstances, it was impossible to obtain specimens of the larger 

 trees forming the forest. 



The very slight specimen which the above list affords of the 

 flora of the Pacific coast-region of equatorial America suggests a 

 doubt whether, as regards the warm and moist regions of South 

 America, the differences between the floras of diff^erent portions 

 have not been too much insisted on by writers on botanical geo- 

 graphy, and especially by Engler in his valuable and important 

 work, ' Versuch einer Entwicklungsgeschichte der Florenwelt. 

 He includes Venezuela and Colombia with tropical and subtropi- 

 cal Central America and Mexico, under the name " Subandine 

 Province," as one of the great divisions of the American flora, 

 making a separate botanical province of North Brazil and Guiana. 



