THE FHILirriNE ISLANDS 3& 



gether with the heavy cost of travelling, having deterred 

 naturalists from visiting the country. Lately, however, 

 Don Sebastian Vidal, Conservator of Forests in the Philip- 

 pines, has added considerably to our knowledge by the 

 publication of his Sinopsis de Familias y Generos de Plantas 

 Lenosas de Filipinas, and Mr. K. A. Rolfe of Kew has 

 rendered equal service to science by his able paper upon 

 the flora of the archipelago,^ in which its derivation and 

 the elucidation of the past history of the group re- 

 ceive detailed consideration. So far as is at present 

 known, 723 genera of 2108 species of Dicotyledons, and 

 273 genera of 1340 species of Monocotyledons exist. The 

 proportion of the latter to the Dicotyledons is thus more 

 than one-half, which — since in tropical insular floras it 

 seldom exceeds one-fourth — must be considered very un- 

 usual. In the ferns, of 467 species no less than 52 are 

 peculiar, which is alone sufficient to stamp the islands 

 with a marked individuality. But one of the most 

 peculiar features is the large number of endemic species 

 and the exceeding paucity of endemic genera. The 

 former reach the large total of 769, but while Borneo 

 has 28 endemic genera and Java 30, there are only 6 

 in the Philippines. 



The general features of the flora are certainly 

 Malayan ; but at the same time a large number of 

 typical Malayan genera have not yet been found in 

 the archipelago, in spite of their occurring in Borneo. 

 Yet more striking is the presence of a considerable 

 Australian and Austro-Malayan element. Space will 

 not permit detailed reference ; but the characteristic 

 genera Stackhousia, Osbornia, Leptospermum, Psorcdea 

 are found, and numerous like examples could be given. 

 A considerable connection with Celebes would prob- 



^ Jour. Linn. Soc. Dot., vol. xxi. No. 135. 



