GEOGRAPHICAL WSTRIBUTION OF TUE PALMS. 25 



CHAPTER II. 



THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE PALMS. 



In a former volume of this series, (" The Geo- 

 graphy of Plants,") many facts were adduced 

 illustrative of tlie distribution of the various 

 classes of plants over the face of the earth ; and 

 the equinoctial zone, comprising an extent of 

 fifteen degrees on either side of the equator, 

 and corresponding to an altitude of 1,900 feet 

 above the level of the sea at the equator, was 

 there described as the " region of palms and 

 bananas." But though this section of the 

 globe is pre-eminently the home of the mag- 

 nificent order of plants now under considera- 

 tion, we must not regard them as confined to 

 it. The true palm climate, according to Hum- 

 boldt, has a mean annual temperature of 78° 

 to81|° Fahr., which embraces all the countries 

 included witliin the tropics of Cancer and 

 Capricorn, or 23" on cither side of the equator. 

 Some fcAV species, however, extend the goo- 



