PREFACE 



those of other authors not so much by a study of botanical ma- 

 terial as by an examination and comparison of descriptions." 



The orchid flora of the Philippine Archipelago is closely al- 

 lied to that of Celebes, Java, and the Malay Peninsula. There 

 are no endemic genera. The number of endemic species, on the 

 contrary, is very large, at least six-sevenths of the known ones 

 having been found nowhere else. It is safe to say that approxi- 

 mately ninety per cent of the orchid flora is endemic. 



In the following enumeration seven hundred and twenty-three 

 species distributed among one hundred and one genera are 

 admitted. Of this number one hundred and nineteen species 

 and one variety are herein proposed as new. The species of the 

 Apostasiinas have been dropped, as this group should, in my 

 opinion, be excluded from the Orchidacea?. The sequence of the 

 genera conforms closely to that adopted by Pfitzer in Engler 

 and Prantl's Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien, but several points 

 of dissimilarity that distinguish my arrangement from Pfitzer's 

 should be noted, as they seem to establish a more natural group- 

 ing. In my treatment of the Sarcanthinse I have attempted to 

 bring the genera into accord with modern botanical thought, and 

 to recognize those deviations from Pfitzer's interpretation of 

 affinities that recent studies have proved to be desirable. The 

 genera of the Sarcanthinse, however, are by no means, even 

 now, thoroughly understood, although late investigations have 

 done much to bring us nearer to a rational solution of those prob- 

 lems that have perplexed botanists for many years, have given 

 rise to discussion, and have produced a copious synonymy. 



In my remarks about several of the species enumerated in the 

 following pages I have had occasion to refer to the plants col- 

 lected by Camelli. Georg Joseph Camelli (Camell or Kamel), in 



[ xii 



