DIPTEROCARPE.E OF NEW GUINEA. 90 



known to be well represented in the Philip x^nes. But even with 

 regard to New Gruinea, it was not absolutely true, since a single 

 species, Anisoptera pulyandnc, had been described by Blume from 

 that island. 



The explorations of Beccari have, however, conclusively shown 

 that though Dipterucarjjew are not absent from the New Guinea 

 flora, they are very poorly represented in it. His collections, in 

 fact, in marked contrast to the unrivalled suites of specimens 

 which he was able to obtain from Borneo, only comprise very 

 imperfect and fragmentary specimens of three species, the repre- 

 sentatives of as many genera. Two of these are from Mount 

 Arfak, on the northern coast, a locality which is particularly 

 interesting, as on the same mountain Beccari detected, at a 

 height of 6000 feet, the first species of Epacridece known from New 

 Gruinea — Styphelia trochocarpoides, F. Muell.* The occurrence of 

 rejjresentatives of two such characteristic tyj)es of such distinct 

 floras as the Indo-Malayan and Australian on the same mountain, 

 is a striking fact in geographical botany. It can hardly be doubted, 

 in fact, that the sudden falling off in the numerical abundance of 

 Dipterocarpea , perhaps the most preponderant feature in the fully- 

 developed Indo-Malayan flora, and the simultaneous appearance of 

 a conspicuous member of the Australian flora proper, shows that 

 Mr. Bentham's doubts as to the validity of Grisebach's generaliza- 

 tion on the nature of the New Guinea flora were really well 

 founded. 



The specimens which Professor Beccari has so kindly placed in 

 my hands are, as I have said, excessively fragmentary. Any 

 description of them would hardly be justifiable were it not for 

 their exceptional impoi-tance. To only one have I felt justified in 

 giving a specific name. 



Anisoptera sp. nov. — Calyce fructifero Isete ochraceo-flavido, 

 pube aurea obtecto ; tubo sph^roidali verruculis minimis pallidis 

 consperso ; lobis accretis majoribus lineari-spathulatis, obtusis, in 

 tubum gradatim desinentibus, fortiter tri-costatis, costis utraque 

 pagina prominentibus una media aliis marginalibus ; lobis 

 minoribus linearibus, acutis, uninerviis. 



Mount Arfak, New Guinea, 1872, 0. Beccari. 



Omnia nisi fructus ignota. Calycis fructiferi tubus ^ poll, 

 longus ; lobi majores 3-4 poll, longi, fere latitudine semipollicares ; 

 lobi minores ad f poll, longi, -fV poll. lati. 



I thuik the discovery of the foliage and inflorescence of this 

 plant will vindicate its specific distinctness. It differs from 

 A. costata, Korth., in having the enlarged lobes of the fruiting 

 calyx tapering more gradually to the tube and with their lateral 

 nerves closer to the margin. From A. j^olyandra, Bl., which, as I 

 have remarked, had ah-eady been detected in New Guinea, it differs 

 in the greater length of the smaller fruiting calyx-lobes. 



* ' Descriptive Notes on Papuan Plants,' p, 107. 



