10 The Vegetation of the 



5. South Florida is included, by Grisebach, in his large province of 

 North American forests. In his " Geographical Distribution of West 

 Indian Plants," he says that only a few woody plants, common to West 

 India, occur in Florida and the Keys (fourteen he mentions). The reason 

 why, I suppose, that the flora of South Florida is a part rather of the 

 West Indian than of the North American flora, I have shown in an 

 article in the American Naturalist about ten years ago. At that time, I 

 proved that two hundred and forty-seven species, mostly West Indian, 

 occur in South Florida that do not extend into Florida, or any of the South- 

 eastern States; further, that amongst these there are not less than one 

 hundred and thirty-six woody plants, and it must be remarked that a 

 number of introduced species was not included. In the meantime a sup- 

 plement to the Flora of Chapman was published, furnishing to the above 

 number an addition of more than a hundred species of vascular plants, so 

 that now three hundred and sixty species (mostly West Indian) are known 

 in South Florida, that do not pass beyond the 29° of north latitude; one 

 hundred and sixty-nine species belong to one hundred and thirty-four 

 genera, which are not found farther northward, and of these again two 

 hundred and ninety-five species are of sixteen orders, not represented in 

 Northern Florida. Besides these we find in Chapman's Flora one hundred 

 and eighty-nine species that do not pass over the northern State line of 

 Florida, although some of them occur westward along the gulf shore. 

 These are certainly of southern origin; so we have five hundred and fifty 

 species, nearly all West Indian. 



About fourteen hundred and forty species we find in Chapman's Flora, 

 the habitat of which is said to extend to Florida, that means always the 

 northern part. There is no full list of the plants of Southern Florida 

 published, so that we could know how many of those northern species reach 

 South Florida; but it is not probable that more than two-fifth of the 

 above number will be found there. That would be equal to the number of 

 southern species. As the exploration of the inner parts of the country, 

 specially the everglades, is not finished, many more southern species may 

 be found, when we consider that in the last ten years the number of 

 known South Floridan species increased at the rate of forty-six per cent. 



So we may conclude that the Flora of South Florida is composed of 

 an equal number of North American and West Indian species, and it is 

 probable that the latter will prevail. 



There is no doubt that the fauna, especially the insect-fauna of a 

 country, must be adapted to the flora; the areas of both will nearly be 

 coincident, as we find it on a map representing the zoogeographical 

 provinces in the third Report of the United States Entomological Com- 

 mission (1883). And there we notice a fact of great interest: The 

 southern part of Florida is separated from the Atlantic and united with 

 the West Indian Province. 



