MR. J. G. BAKER ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FERNS. 310 



iii Xhasia, and AlsopHla podophylla on the mainland further north. For Formosa 1h< 

 collections of Oldham, received lately, contain 81 species; and several others have been 

 sent by Mr. Swinhoe, making the number about 100 in all. But the er it con- atra- 



tion is in the narrow Malayan peninsula and Malayan and Philippine groups of islands. 

 Here, in a space not more than a hundredth of the globe in area, we have more than a 

 quarter of the known Ferns gathered together. For this tract we can now enumerate 

 630 species as they stand in the Synopsis; and still Borneo, Celebes, and Sumatra can 

 only be regarded as very partially explored; but of these 630, 250 are absolutely pecu- 

 liar, about one in nine of the known Perns. Seventy other species are not known in 

 Polynesia and peninsular India, of which upwards of fifty are Himalayan. Our lisi for 

 Polynesia contains now 380 species, of which about 150 are absolutely peculiar, and 30 

 others not Malayan, the latter mostly occurring in New Zealand or Australia. Taking 

 Polynesia as a whole, the most noteworthy point about it seems to be that the portion 

 of its Fern-flora that is not peculiar is, with the exception of a faint Australian 1 in c, 

 thoroughly Malayan, not American. We may conveniently subdivide the islands into 

 three groups: — first, a western one, including New Guinea, New Caledonia, and the 



d 



Solomon and Loyalty Isles; second, a central group, including the Society and Friendly 

 isles, Samoa and Fiji; and, third, a north-eastern one, including the Sandwich Isle 

 About the first group we know very little; and that little has principally been gairn 

 through the recent travels in New Caledonia of M. Vieillard. His collections, ha] pily 

 for science, were worked up by Mettenius, in whose death, occurring as it has so soon 

 after that of Sir W. Hooker, Fern-literature has sustained a loss that can scarcely be 

 estimated too highly. We know already, in this western group, 55 of the species pecu- 

 liar to Polynesia ; and no doubt further investigation will add to the number largely, and 

 add, in this group, to the Polynesian list many species now known in Malaya alone. 

 The central group we know much more thoroughly, principally throu h the explorations 

 of Powell in Samoa, of Seemann and others in Fiji, and of Brackenridge in nc irly all the 

 islands. For Samoa the list will reach nearly to 150 species, and for Fiji exa 200. 

 In this central group we know 47 of the peculiar Polynesian species, mostly spe ,1 to 



tl ^e group ; and here many of the Malayan types reach their eastern limit 

 *ich Islands have a smaller list, many of the Malayan species that g 

 groups being absent here. The number of peculiar species is smaller t h 



The Sand 



two, being only 37 ; but several of them are very 



distinctly marked plants, as, fo 



-. the three species of OMto» S whilst Sadler* is nearly, and Arifa. (pla-d u 

 «* Synopsis under DavalUa) quite confined to the group. The "££■««£*! 

 "hich we ean eall to mind as known here and not further west are Fellcea t rnjol , nd 

 ***mJ* V ile and S, llM c!u«uu», To this group in Polynesn, J£m -- «£ 

 <*»* and Nephrotic Filix-mas appear to be restricted; and we do not *«*££*£ 

 fi«9ili>, Asplenia Adb Uun^ugrum, and Triolumme. monantimum an. here 

 tropical Asia 



, W. ^,^^,V,,-But, taking it as whole, tropical Ameri a ,st he ™s p, , 



J*, district, in peeoliar species especiaUy, of ^*^£&£SiL 

 aU the other districts put together. It is here, amongst the topping 



