42 



THE WORLD OF LIFE 



CHAP. 



Tropical Floras — Large Areas 



The Tropical Flora of Asia 



As no part of the Asiatic continent (except the Malay- 

 Peninsula) approaches within eight degrees of the equator, its 

 tropical area is very limited, barely reaching one and a quarter 

 million square miles ; and even if we add to it the whole of 

 the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, New Guinea, and 

 tropical Australia, it will not much exceed two millions. Yet 

 these countries are in general so richly clothed with a tropical 

 vegetation, that the actual number of their species will almost 

 certainly surpass those of Africa, with three times their 

 tropical area, and may approach, though I do not think they 



1 Mr. W. E. Broadway, who has collected in the island, informs me that 

 some hundreds of species remain to be discovered in Trinidad. 



