СУРЕКАСЕЖ IN THE WELWITSCH HERBARIUM. 123 
Cyperus sphacelatus, Rottb. Upper and Lower Guinea. 
lætus, Presl. Lower Guinea. 
ligularis, L. Upper and Lower Guinea and adjacent islands. 
flabelliformis, Rottb. Abyssinia, Lower Guinea. 
dissolutus, H. B. K. Upper Guinea. 
ferax, A. Rich. Guinea, Zambesi. 
thyrsiflorus, Jungh. Lower Guinea. 
flavus, Boeckeler. Guinea, 
Kyllinga obtusata, Presl. Lower Guinea. 
vaginata, Lam. Upper Guinea, Cape Verd Isles. 
cespitosa, Nees. Lower Guinea. 
odorata, Vahl. Upper Guinea. 
Dichromena candida. Upper and Lower Guinea. 
Fimbristylis hispidula, Kunth. All Africa. 
Scirpus spadiceus, Boeckeler. Upper and Lower Guinea. 
cubensis, Kunth. Nile Lands, Lower Guinea. 
filamentosus, Vahl. Upper Guinea. 
Hemicarpha subsquarrosa, Nees. Lower Guinea. 
Ascolepis brasiliensis, Benth. Upper Guinea. 
Scleria hirtella, Sw. From Upper Guinea to the Cape. 
macrocarpa, Salzm. Lower Guinea. 
verticillata, Muehlb. Upper Guinea, Central Africa. 
flagellum, L. Guinea. 
Of these 28 plants 3 have been recently discovered on the high lands of Central 
Madagascar, viz. Cyperus ligularis, Dichromena candida, and Scleria hirtella, none of 
Which, with the single exception of the last named, occur in South Africa. It is to be 
noted also that it is on the west coast of Africa that most of these plants have been 
found. 
Thus there appears to be a very remarkable connexion between the flora of West Tropical 
Africa and that of South America and the West Indies. When, however, we come to 
examine the distribution of the other orders of plants and animals of Africa, so as to 
compare it with that of the Сурегасего, we shall notice a remarkable те Taking, 
for example, the higher orders of Dicotyledonous plants, as set forth in the ‘ Flora of 
Tropical Africa,’ we find that out of 412 plants, only 7, or 55, аге common to the two 
continents only, as opposed to + of Cyperaces; that is, that the пики higher ттн 
occurring in both Africa and America, but not in Asia, is less than 7 of ex p e 
lower. Wallace (* Distribution of Animals,’ vol. i. chap. xi.) seems to consider Е а 3 еге 
is no evidence as to the former connexion of the two continents, and says (p. 287), The 
numerous cases of close similarity in the insect forms of Tropical Africa and America 
Seem to indicate some better means of transmission, at a not very remote epoch, than 
now exists. The vast depth of the Atlantic, and the absence of corresponding т 
in the vertebrate fauna, entirely negative the union between the two countries. i ien 
further suggests that there may have been a moderate extension of the shores, an 
` this, with large islands in place of the Cape Verd Islands, St. Paul's а and Fer- 
