286 ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE МЕШАСЕЖ. 
No less remarkable is the total difference existing between all the American Meliaceæ 
and those of the most eastern parts of Polynesia,—not a single American species, not a 
single American genus, being hitherto represented further west than the westerly slopes 
of the Peruvian or Columbian Andes, and all Asiatic genera having, as above mentioned, 
not been found further east than the Navigators’ Islands. t is, however, to be observed 
that the Brazilian genus Cabralea posseses the closest affinities with the genus Dysoxylum, 
which. is spread all over Polynesia—a fact which might, perhaps, suggest some amount 
of analogy between the American and the Indian types; but at the same time it is to be 
observed that the genus Cabralea is exclusively confined within the southern provinces of 
Brazil, none of its species having hitherto been found on the western side of the Andes. 
I pointed out at the beginning of this paper how premature it would be to take into 
serious consideration the exact boundary-lines of the species of Meliaceze. Some general 
remarks, however, bearing on this part of the subject are not altogether out of place. 
As might have been expected, the insular species are in general very much localized. 
A striking illustration of this consists in the fact that 18 out of 19 species of Dysoxylum 
inhabiting New Caledonia are special to that island, a single one of them existing also in 
Australia and in other parts of Polynesia. On the other hand, some species are remarkable 
for the great extent of their areas. For instance, Sandoricum indicum, (Maingayia) mar- 
ginatum, and Chisocheton paucijugum, which are all of them indigenous in the Malayan 
peninsula, have also been found in Java, and even as far east as Borneo. Again, Tri- 
chilia havanensis, Guarea filiformis, 6. trichilioides, Swietenia Mahagoni, and Cedrela 
Glaziovi are common to the West Indies and several provinces of South and Central 
America. | 
In conclusion, the chief features of the geographical distribution of МеНасеге may be 
summed up briefly as follows :— 
1. The number and the mutual affinities of the various genera of Meliaceze are found 
to decrease gradually from the Asiatic regions towards Africa and America on one side, 
and towards Eastern Polynesia on the other. 
2. There exists a marked analogy between the American and the African Meliacee, 
whilst all the Polynesian species and genera of the order belong to the Indian type. 
3. New Caledonia contains a remarkable number of very distinct species, all of which, 
except опе ( Flindersia Fournieri), belong to the Indian type, though they are cain 
to be found in that island. 
4. In Australia we find three Indian genera, Turrea, Dysoxylum, and Cedrela, asso- 
ciated with the three genera Owenia, Synowm, and Flindersia, which, with the exception 
of a single species (Flindersia Fournieri), belong exclusively to that country. 
5. No species of Meliaceze have hitherto been collected іп the most eastern islands of 
Polynesia—that is to say, further east than the Navigators’ group. It is, however, hardly 
credible that the order should be entirely absent from the Sandwich or Galapagos archi- 
pelago. Should subsequent explorations reveal the existence of Meliaceze in those islands, 
it will be Е to know whether they belong to the Indian or to the American 
