IX, C, 8 Robinson: Distribution of Philippine Mosses 913 
largely isolated from the peoples of the less elevated provinces. 
Moreover, choice of this particular portion of the Philippines 
was made, because the study of flowering plants had led to the 
formation of certain theories regarding their distribution in the 
Archipelago, which were briefly stated at the beginning of this 
paper. 
It would be entirely fair to object that exploration is not yet 
sufficiently advanced, and that it is probable that further investi- 
gation will modify these figures. It is freely conceded, that had 
there been no very obvious tendency, it would have been perilous 
to base conclusions on such work as has yet been done. But the 
results are their own justification, and while they will unques- 
tionably be modified in scores of details, by exploration outside 
the Philippines as well as within them, an examination of the 
actual cases renders it quite as probable that the contrasts will 
be intensified as that they will be weakened. 
So far, then, as the moss flora can be taken as a criterion, it 
seems clear— 
1. That the percentage of endemism in Philippine species is 
very high. 
2. That the Mountain Province is botanically a natural sub- 
division of the Philippines. 
3. That the flora of the rest of the Philippines is overwhelm- 
ingly Malayan. 
4, That the flora of the Mountain Province can not be 
considered strictly Malayan, but is related to it in much the 
same way as is that of Sikkim, Nepal, or Khasia. 
It remains to be seen whether the ascertained distribution of 
the moss flora affords any support to two other propositions 
briefly stated at the outset for flowering plants; whether any 
species whose focus of distribution in the Philippines appears 
to be the Mountain Province extend to the south along definite 
lines, in general those of the various ranges or broken ranges 
of mountains; and secondly, whether floral subprovinces can be 
established for the rest of the Philippines. 
From both of these inquiries, the species found only in the 
Mountain Province must be excluded, but with an important 
reservation. If it be well established that the great mountain 
mass, nearly at the north of the Islands, has a flora in rather 
definite contrast to that not only of less elevated areas but even 
of the summits of the mountain farther south, it would logically 
follow that it could constitute a focus of distribution, from which 
more adaptible species could reach other localities. 
But, on this point, the data for drawing conclusions are 
