INTRODUCTION IX 



further east and south from Porto Rico, 38 species are common 

 to Jamaica and one or more of the Lesser Antilles. Forty 

 species occur both in Jamaica and Trinidad, of which nine are 

 not recorded from the Lesser Antilles, but six of these are known 

 from Cuba, and three from Cuba and Porto Rico. Epidendrum 

 nutans has a somewhat remarkable distribution, being known 

 only from Trinidad, Venezuela and Brazil, in addition to 

 Jamaica. 



The relationship with Central America is well marked ; 37 

 species are common to Jamaica and some part of Central America, 

 and if we include Mexico the number is raised to 44. Of these 

 28 are also found in equatorial South America, of which sixteen 

 represent an element widely distributed over the West Indian 

 and tropical American area. Of the sixteen which do not occur 

 in equatorial South America, four are confined to Jamaica and 

 Central America and ten to Central America (with Mexico), 

 Jamaica and Cuba. 



The affinity with equatorial South America is also strongly 

 marked, 48 species being known to occur in some portion of 

 tropical South America and Jamaica. A number of these also 

 represent a widely distributed tropical American element occurring 

 more or less generally in the West Indies and Central America, 

 some few being also known from Florida and the Bahamas. If 

 we consider Trinidad as part of equatorial South America, six 

 of these forty-eight species occur nowhere else in the West Indies 

 except in Jamaica. These comprise three species of Epidendrum 

 E. verrucosum, known also only from Columbia, E. nutans from 

 Trinidad, Venezuela and Brazil, and E. imbricatum from Central 

 America and Brazil and Brassavola nodosa, Maxillaria rufescens 

 ^nd Cryptarrliena lunata from Central America and more or less 

 widely distributed in equatorial South America. 



These six species which do not otherwise occur in the West 

 Indies, together with the Central American group already 

 referred to, probably represent an element of the Jamaican flora 

 associated with two former extensions of the land surface between 

 Cuba and Yucatan, and Jamaica and Honduras. The sea- 

 bottom between Jamaica and Honduras comes within the 6000 

 fathom limit and contains large banks within the 600 fathom 

 limit. If we include Jamaican species which occur also in the 

 Greater Antilles, there are twenty-four common to these and 



