794 : LEAFLETS or PHILIPPINE BOTANY [Vor. III, Art. 45 
The feeble development of the mossy forest above San 
Ramon made it impossible to bring out with proper force 
the most remarkable charaeter of this vegetation. This is the 
fact that it is the region of the greatest development of xero- 
phytes, in spite of its being the most of the time the 
most humid region. The prevailing humidity is conducive to 
the luxuriant development of epiphytes, and epiphytes have 
to be xerophytie, in one way or another, because when the 
air is temporarily dry they have no outside source of water. 
Like xerophytie vegetation in general, that of the mossy for- 
est is of very slow growth and long-lived. 
The endemism of the mossy forest is high, as is illus- 
trated by the dominant group, Eu-polypodium. And still, con- 
sidering that the mossy forest occurs only in small and usually 
widely separated spots, it is surprising how many of its 
peculiar species have a wide geographical range. Mona- 
chosorum and Cheiropleuria are examples of this; and as a 
generic case: of the same kind, we have Achrosorus, extending 
apparently from Polynesia to the Malay Peninsula, but most 
of the species known each from a single mountain. 
The known facts as to the geographical distribution of the 
Apo ferns may be summarized as follows:— 
Lochl..:..1:. uua eee ee ees ee 
Confined: to Mindanao. m. Ne a lll 5 
Confined to the Philippines................ 43 
Total endemic in the Philippines....... Bt 
Malayan species not passing Mindanao..... 14 
Malayan species not reaching Luzon....... 21 
Malayan species not passing Luzon........ 112 
Malayan species not passing the Philippines 147 
Malayan species not reaching Japan........ 7 
Malayan species reaching Japan............ 17 
Malayan species passing Japan............ 1 
Total Malayan species passing Luzon........ 25 
Species known beyond but not in Malaya.. 1 
Northern species not reaching Malaya ..... 0 
This table illustrates, probably more strikingly than has 
been done before, the measure of independence of the Philip- 
pine fern flora, and the completeness of its ultimate depen- 
dence on the fern flora of Malaya. For long as is the endem- 
