36 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



established there may be more frequently visited by 

 botanists, who will thus enjoy the opportunity of studying 

 vegetable biology under the most favourable conditions. 

 Trimen estimates the indigenous phanerogamic flora at 

 2729 species, after deducting about 200 aliens which 

 are more or less thoroughly colonised. This computa- 

 tion, it should be mentioned, is based on a very broad 

 view of species, and when we take into consideration that 

 Ceylon is about one-sixth smaller than Ireland, and has 

 no really alpine flora, this number is really high, even 

 for a tropical region. It may be mentioned in this con- 

 nection that the greatest concentration of species in small 

 areas occurs in temperate regions of the southern hemi- 

 sphere, in West Australia, and South Africa. Nearly thirty 

 per cent, or about 800 species are endemic in Ceylon ; but the 

 number of peculiar genera is smaller than might have 

 been expected, being only about twenty, or something 

 like two per cent. One of the most important facts 

 brought to light by Dr. Trimen's analysis of the com- 

 position of the flora is the much stronger Malayan affini- 

 ties than those exhibited by the flora of the Indian pen- 

 insula. Upwards of one hundred Ceylon genera are not 

 represented in the Indian peninsula, and, deducting the 

 twenty endemic ones, there still remains the remarkable 

 fact that eighty-seven genera of wider distribution are 

 represented in Ceylon, but not in the Indian peninsula. 

 Of these, fifty-six are represented by endemic species, 

 and thirty-one by non-endemic species. 



The botany of what may be termed the Indian Islands 

 has been very assiduously investigated by Dr. Prain, who 

 has published a considerable number of papers on the 

 subject. 1 Primarily, the Laccadives attract our attention. 

 They are wholly coral, and form a chain of peaks some 



ll 'A List of Laccadive Plants," David Prain, in the Scientific 

 Memoirs by Medical Officers of the Army of India, part v., 1890, pp. 

 47-69. "The Non-indigenous Species of the Andaman Flora," D. 

 Prain, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, lix., 1890, pp. 

 235-261. "A List of Diamond Island Plants," D. Prain, in op. cit., 

 1891, pp. 271-294. 



