1905. J 



ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE FORMOSAN CONIFERS. 



55 



Central China is more than satisfactory in corroborating the truth of the 

 gap between Japan and India being filled np. 



As we have already mentioned, the distribution of conifers in species 

 is rather limited in locality, so it will be necessary to consider them by 

 genera to get an idea of their distribution in the world. 



The following table shows the distribution of the conifer-genera in the 

 different parts of the world. 



Table 9.— Distribution of the Genera of the Formosan 

 Conifers in the World. 



Japan have 11 genera, China 9, North America 9, India 6, Europe and 

 siberia 4, and Southern Hemisphere 2, in common with Formosa which has 

 the 12 genera in all. It is remarkable to see that N. America has so much 

 as 9 genera in common with Formosa in spite of the great distance between 

 the continent and the island. This causes me to think if Formosa and 

 N. America had not interchanged their inhabitants through the Aleutian, 

 Kurile Islands, Japan, and the Liukiu Islands in some geological ages, 

 when there existed a land mass between them. 



It might naturally be imagined that the flora of Formosan should be 

 more similar to that of Central China which is close by, than that of 

 Japan to which Formosa is more distant. But the statistics affirm the 

 contrary to be true. 



