114 ON L1QUIDAMBAR FORMOSANA, HANCE. 
latter. I have already in this Journal (iii. 340) recorded the occur- 
rence in the south of China of Gryptotcenia Canadensis, DC, heretofore 
only found in the Atlantic States and Japan ; and, in addition to the 
species common to the latter country and southern China, enumerated 
. in Mr. Bentham's c Flora Hongkongensis/ I can adduce two addi- 
tional instances in Haloragis rnicrantha, R. Br,, found by Mr. Sampson 
on the "White Cloud" hills in the immediate vicinity of Canton, and 
in Car ex tristachya, Thbg. (=C. monadelpha, Boott, ipso teste!), de- 
tected by me on damp ledges of rocks in Dane's Island, Whampoa. 
Though, therefore, the isolated appearance of Liquidambar styraciflua 
in south-eastern China would be a surprising fact, there would be no 
a priori improbability of its occurrence here when once its existence 
in Japan was demonstrated, as I do not doubt will be the case. 
Indeed, when it is borne in mind that of the fifteen genera and about 
thirty species comprised in Hamamelidacea the small island of Hong- 
kong — of less area than the Isle of Wight — contains five genera, each 
represented by a single species j that four genera and six species are 
known as natives of Japan ; and that, in addition to the two Liqui- 
dambars above noticed I have described a very distinct Corylopsis from 
Fokien, — it is evident that eastern Asia is the focus of the Order which, 
it may safely be predicted, will receive many more accessions from 
thence, in new forms too, doubtless, since one-third of the known 
genera are monotypic and the remainder represented by very few 
species. 
Considering the geographical position of Japan, and the great 
number of plants which recent researches have shown to be common to 
that country and Mandshuria, it is singular that no JIamamelidacea 
should hitherto have been detected in the last-named country, includ- 
ing the vast territories watered by the Amur, Sungari, Schilka, and 
their affluents, in Mongolia, or even in northern China. Such, at 
least, I find to be the case after a very careful examination of the 
several invaluable works on the Flora of those regions, for which we 
are mainly indebted to the industry and learning of Russian botanists. 
- 
Whampoa, S. China, 
November, 1866. 
