194 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



quite temperate regions. One species, the common one, occurs in the Mediterranean 

 region ; two or three inhabit South Africa ; but in Chili there is none. Indeed, the genus 

 scarcely extends south of the tropics in South America, and in North America the 

 northern limit is in South Florida, where three species have been gathered. There is also 

 a considerable number of species in Polynesia, but they mostly inhabit the groups of 

 islands nearest to the Indian Archipelago, only two species, Ficus tinctoria and Ficus 

 prolixa, reaching the Society Islands, and none apparently the Marquesas. Nor is the 

 genus represented by any indigenous species in the Sandwich Islands or Galapagos ; 

 yet a very interesting collection of plants from some of the most remote of the Pacific 

 Islands, presented to the Kew Herbarium in 1882 by J. S. Arundel, Esq., contains a 

 specimen of a species of Ficus from Fanning, a small island in the North Pacific in about 

 the same longitude as the centre of the Sandwich Islands, but only about 4° 50' north 

 of the equator. The specimens are merely barren shoots, but there is no doubt about the 

 genus; and it is noted that they were taken from a tree which "grows about 100 feet 

 high, and resembles a banyan." Finally, there are between thirty and forty species, 

 known from Australia chiefly from within the tropics, and none extending to Victoria, 

 South or West Australia. In addition to those enumerated below, there are at least half 

 a dozen undetermined species in the collections from the South-eastern Moluccas. 



Ficus retusa, Linn. 



Ficus retusa, Linn., Benth., Fl. Austr., vi. p. 166; Miq. in Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat., iii. 



p. 267. 

 Urostigma retusum, Miq., et Urodigma nitidum, Miq., Fl. Intl. Bat., i. 2, p. 345. 



Arrou ; Ki ; Moa. — A very common species, ranging from India, South China, and the 

 Philippines, to New Guinea and North-eastern Australia. 



Ficus benjamina, Linn. 



Ficus benjamina, Linn., Mant., p. 129; Benth., Fl. Austr., vi. p. 167. 

 Urostigma henjaniinum, Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., i. 2, p. 346. 

 Ficus neglecta, Dene., Herb. Timor. Descr., p. 166. 



Ki ; Timor Laut. — Widely dispersed in India and throughout the Archipelago, where, 

 however, it was often planted, according to Miquel. It has also been found in Eockingham 

 Bay, on the coast of Queensland, Australia. 



Ficus quercifolia, Eoxb. 



Ficus (juercifolia, Roxb., Fl. Ind., iii. p. 534 ; Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat., i. 2, p. 297. 



Arrou. — This species was founded upon specimens cultivated in the Calcutta Botanic 

 Garden, and obtained from Bencoolen in Sumatra. It has since been collected iu Moulmein, 

 by T. Lobb ; and Miquel doubtfully records it from Java. 



