148 THE BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. [Voi. xxii. No. 26i, 



of Formosa is nearest to that of Japan, regardless of geographical 

 proximity' to China. It is, he continues to say, a verj^ remark- 

 able fact that so many plants of peculiar characterare found 

 in Formosa and Japan. This fact has led him to think that 

 these plants had once ranged over all the continent but became 

 extinct there, while they have still survived in the islands, owing 

 to their insular conditions. He found, however, that this opinion 

 will not satisfactorily explain why the plants which are found 

 still living in the islands do not also survive in so sheltered a 

 place as Tsin-ling-shan in central China, where the flora is 

 quite as rich as it is in Japan and Formosa. It is very reason- 

 able to think that in the so called coast provinces of China, 

 the disturbances were so severe as to destroy these inhabitants 

 of peculiar character. But, why in the protected centre of 

 China. He has thought, therefore, that insular conditions are 

 not the only cause of the floristic afiinity of the two regions, 

 Japan and Formosa, and has wondered if this aflSnity were not 

 due to a land-mass or mountain chains, which are by some geolo- 

 gists conjectured to have existed between the islands in former 

 ages. After discussing the subject over and over again, he came 

 to the conclusion that the similarity of the floras of Formosa 

 and Japan may have been caused, on the one hand, by the 

 existence formerly of a land-mass between the islands, and, on 

 the other, by the same insular conditions caused by the depres 

 sion forming the inner seas in more recent geological ages. 



To conclude the introductory part of this work, the author 

 has endeavoured to give the readers some fair idea of the 

 mountainous vegetation of the island, and has given the 

 extraction of the report written by Mr. T. Kawakami, who 

 made a botanical trip to Mt. Morrison some years before. 



Summarizing the various aspects of the vegetation he has 

 given, he came to the conclusion that the mountain zone of 

 the island may be divided into four regions :— 1) Broad leaved 

 tree regions {Trochodendron, Cinnamomum and Quercus) from 

 2,000 ft.— 6,000 ft.; 2) Coniferous region {Abies, Picea, Pinus, 

 Taiwania, Cunninghawia, and ChamEecyparis) from 6,000 ft. 

 up to 10,000 ft.; 3) Shrubbery region {Juniperus, and Berheris) 



