46 INTRODUCTOBY ESSAY. 
extends furthest north, its extreme limit being Kumaon in the Western Himalaya. 
In Eastern Asia the most northern point is attained by C. formosanus, which has been 
collected at Kalung in North Formosa, in Lat. 29° 30' N., but it is possible that some 
other species of Calamus may occur further to the north and east in the Japanese 
Archipelago of Liu-kiu, for I have. seen, in the Leiden Herbarium, some fruits of a. 
Daemonorops labelled “ Japonia, van Siebold.” We may therefore expect that one or 
more species of Calamus also occur there. 
An unnamed Calamus, apparently allied to C. Moseleyanus, has been discovered by 
H. N. Moseley in the Admiralty Islands ; this and C. vitiensis, which has been found in 
the Island of Taviuni, Long. 180° E., in the Fiji group, are the only species of Calamus- 
as yet known to occur to the east of New Guinea. C. vitiensis is undoubtedly the 
most eastern species of the genus and is the only one that occurs in the remote 
Pacific Islands, 
We know of eight species from Tropical Africa. Their area of distribution ranges 
from the mouths of the rivers Senegal and Gambia to the White Nile where a species, 
€. Schweinfurthii, has been discovered by Dr. Schweinfurth near tie equator in the 
Niam-Niam and Monbuttu country. The other known African species have their 
home on the coasts of the Gulf of Guinea north of the Equator. So far no Calami 
have been recorded from the very large and botanically unexplored region which 
lies between the mouth of the Niger and the home of ©. Schwetnfurthii, It is almost 
impossible to believe that there are no representatives of the genus in this wide tract, 
“extending as it does over 29 degrees of longitude. 
The African Calami do not differ strikingly from some of the Asiatic species of 
the flagelliferous and non-cirriferous groups, and form a distinct group of closely related 
species, very difficult to distinguish from each other. 
Summing up our knowledge of the general geographical distribution of the species. 
of Calamus we may say: that this genus occupies the very large tropical and sub-tropical 
area in the Old World which ranges in latitude from 30°N. to 30°S. and in longitude. 
from 17° W. to 180° E., or a good deal more than half the circumference of the globe. 
Generally speaking, nearly all the species of Calamus have a very limited geo- 
graphical distribution, Each botanical region and sub-region has numerous species. 
peculiar to itself and there are extremely few species that occupy a very wide area, 
The few that are at all widespread, such as ©. viminalis and ©. palustris, affect 
the frequently flooded forests of low-lying lands near the sea. C. palustris, with 
its numerous varieties, extends from the mouths of the Ganges to Cochin-China, 
and appears to be the species from which have originated others endemic in 
the southern islands of the Philippines and in the Moluccas. C. ornatus is also 
represented by distinct varieties in the maritime regions of Java, Sumatra, the Malay 
Peninsula, Borneo and the Philippines; this species is perhaps indebted for its wide. 
area to the dispersal of its fleshy fruits by birds. Of the inland species C. tenuis is the 
one most frequently met with; it extends right across Northern India from Kumaon 
eastward to Burma, and occurs also in Cochin-China. 
I have already remarked that each region possesses species peculiar to itself, 
but the main head-quarters of endemic Calami are evidently the Malayan Peninsula, 
