Malaysian Phytogeography and Polynesian Flora 259 



range north into the CaroHne Islands (two species), southeast 

 to New Caledonia (one species), east in Polynesia to Fiji and 

 Hawaii (two species), and northwest into Celebes and the 

 Philippines (one species). Dolicholobium was described in i860 

 from Fiji. At present five species of it are known in Fiji, eight in 

 New Guinea, one in the Solomon Islands, and one in the Philip- 

 pines. Like Vavaea and Conthovia, this genus seems to be not so 

 much a "Polynesian" as a Papuan type which apparently has 

 extended its range north from New Guinea into the Philippines, 

 as well as east into Polynesia. 



May not such genera as Joinvillea and Tetraplasandra, for a 

 long time known only from Polynesia, have the same history .f' 

 The first is now also known from the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, and the Philippines, and the second from the Philip- 

 pines and Celebes. As our knowledge of the tremendously rich 

 and really not well-known Malaysian flora increases, we may 

 expect to find, particularly in eastern Malaysia, various other 

 generic types now considered to be Polynesian. 



Future investigations may radically modify our beliefs con- 

 cerning the geologic history of this region, but in general the 

 present-day distribution of both plants and animals is in support 

 of the geologic history as it is now understood. There is no sharp 

 line separating the floras and faunas of eastern and western 

 Malaysia nor those of Asia and Australia, except for limited 

 groups; all proposed lines break down more or less when all 

 groups of plants and animals are considered. Apparently both 

 eastern and western Malaysian elements have introduced into 

 the unstable insular area separating the more stable Sundaland 

 and Papualand, which is what logically would be expected when 

 an insular group is situated between two continental areas and 

 the islands are separated by relatively narrow arms of the sea. 



