Me te ae 
OF THE TONGA OR FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 211 
Passing to the distribution of the species which extend beyond 
Polynesia, we have 188 in the Australasian column, 162 in the 
Malayan, 141 having a distribution beyond Australasia and 
Malaya in the Old World, and 55 in the New World. Adding 
the species having an Australasian or Malayan extension to the 
purely Polynesian species might, without due consideration, lead 
us to suppose that the Australasian affinities of the Tonga flora 
were nearly as strong as the Malayan ; but such a conception is 
dissipated by the figures in the two last columns relating to 
species of wider distribution. Furthermore, it is manifest from 
the very small number of species which extend to some part of 
Australasia, but are not found elsewhere beyond the limits of 
Polynesia, that the Australian connections are exceedingly slight. 
The following are the only species coming under this category :— 
Melicytus ramiflorus, Ratonia stipitata, Metrosideros polymorpha, 
Jasminum simplicifolium, Hoya australis, Ipomea congesta, Pi- 
sonia inermis, Peperomia leptostachya, Euphorbia Sparmannii, 
Ficus aspera, Podocarpus elata, and Pteris comans. 
After examining all the facts, and especially the distribution of 
the genera, and the nearest affinities of the apparently endemic 
Polynesian species, there is no doubt that the combined Fijian, 
Samoan, and Tongan flora is eminently Malayan in character. 
I would only repeat, in conclusion, that the distribution may 
not be quite complete in all cases; hence the figures may be 
subject to slight modifications, but the main issues would not be 
thereby affected. 
7. Descriptions of New Plants from the Tonga and 
Solomon Islands. 
Dysoxylum megalanthum, Hemsl. (Plate IX.) 
Species pro magnitudine florum insignis, calyce irregulariter 
3-4-lobato. 
Arbor usque ad 30 pedalis alta (fide Cominsiz). Folia (perfecta 
non visa) fere glabra vel cito glabrescentia, petiolata, abrupte 
pinnata, rhachi terete gracili, 7 poll. longa; foliola 8, opposita, 
breviter petiolulata, papyracea, oblonga, 2-4 poll. longa, inferiora 
breviora, integra, obtusa vel obtuse acuminata, basi inwqualia, 
venis primariis lateralibus utrinque circiter 12 sat conspicuis. 
Flores albi (fide Cominsii) polygami? circiter 10 lineas longi et 
12 lineas diametro, racemosi (racemis terminalibus fide Cominsiz), 
