INTRODUCTION. 81 
In the whole of Chili, according to Philippi’s ‘ Catalogus Plantarum 
Vascularum Chilensium’ (Santiago de Chili, 1881), there are 51038 
species of flowering plants, of which 104 are Orchids, belonging to 
7 genera. 
Near Sydney (New South Wales), Mr. Fitzgerald, the author of the 
splendid work, ‘Australian Orchids’ (Sydney, 1882, &c.), states that 
‘within the radius of a mile I have obtained sixty-two species of 
Orchids, fifty-seven of which were terrestrial—a number that could 
not, I believe, be equalled in any other part of the world within a 
similar area”’ (/.c. p. 4). Certainly no such concentration would be 
found on the Cape Peninsula. It is not stated, however, whether the 
number would be greatly increased by a further extension of the area; 
and it may be mentioned that in F'. von Miller’s ‘Systematic Census 
of Australian Plants’ (Melbourne, 1882) only 252 species, belonging to 
46 genera, are enumerated for the whole of Australia; whereas in all 
extra-Tropical 8. Africa, with an area only one-fifth as large as that of 
Australia, about 320 species of Orchids are known. 
In the island of Tasmania there are, according to F. von Miiller’s 
‘Systematic Census,’ wt supra, 957 species of flowering plants; and 
21 genera with 64 species of Orchids. 
In the whole of Western Australia, south of the Tropic of Capricorn, 
there are, according to the same authority (including Supplements of 
1885 and 1886), 38272 species of flowering plants; of these 75 are 
Orchids belonging to 18 genera. 
Hong-Kong, the well-known island on the coast of China, only 29 
square miles in extent, has, according to Bentham’s ‘Flora Hong- 
kongensis’ (London, 1861), about 1056 flowering plants, of which 
36 are Orchids belonging to 27 different genera. 
Sicily, with an area of 8000 square miles, has, according to Gus- 
sone’s ‘Flore Siculee Synopsis’ (Naples, 1844), 60 species of Orchids, 
belonging to 14 genera. 
Madeira, although it has an area of about 300 square miles, thus 
larger than the Cape Peninsula, and with a Flora of 710 species of 
flowering plants (Capt. Norman, Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin. v. xvii. 83-86), 
has only 4 species of Orchids. 
The last-named island is situate about 400 miles from the nearest 
African coast, and strikingly illustrates the paucity of Orchids in 
insular Floras which has been pointed out by Hemsley (‘ Report on 
the Voyage of H.M.S. ‘Challenger”’,’ Botany, vol. i., London, 1885, 
Introduction, p. 27), who gives a considerable list in evidence, from 
which I have extracted the above. The islands previously cited are 
not to be regarded as possessing insular, but rather continental, Floras, 
being, from a phyto-geographical point of view, merely portions of the 
great continents near which they are situate. 
