510 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 



portion of the Aifak. Previous botanical collections iu these mountains have 

 been made by Drs. Beccari and Gjellerup. 



General Plant Formations. — Access to the lakes is from the coast, of which 

 only the immediate shore line is sparsely inhabited. A huge intervening low- 

 lying belt of sago swamps and high forest, growing on sterile ' korang ' or 

 coral limestone, extends to the lower foot-hills of the Arfak. This tract of 

 country, intersected by the alluvial terraces and large inundation areas of the 

 rivers, which pour down from the mountains in the rainy season, is devoid of 

 inhabitants and suggests very recent elevation. 



Native houses are first met with at about 2,000 feet on the subsidiary spurs 

 and lower ranges. From thence upwards, on the slopes and crests of the ridges, 

 there is evidence of extensive cultivation, past and present. At about 7,000 feet 

 on the crest of the main range human habitation again ceases, and a zone of 

 small virgin mountain forest obtains to 9,000 feet, the limit of the range. This 

 small forest, from 8-9,000 feet moss-grown to mossy in character, is chiefly 

 marked by coniferous trees of Dacri/dium, Phyllocladus, Podocarpiis, and 

 Lihocedrua sp. In the larger forest of the same type which clothes the shel- 

 tered slopes of the lakes, groups of a handsome Araucaria are conspicuous. 



Open spaces break this prevailing forest in parts along the ridges. These 

 are either natural landslips of loose granite, gravel, or small artificial clearings 

 made by the Papuans for rest and camping purposes. Where this clearing 

 occurs over larger areas, on exposed plateau summits at about 9,000 feet, a 

 xerophytic, open type of what may be called a Cloydonia Association is found — ■ 

 Myrviecodia, Hydnophytum, prostrate or stunted shrubs with herbaceous plants, 

 being dotted on a lichen-covered surface. To a certain extent marshland extends 

 round the margin of the lakes, where splendid Rhododendrons, Zingiberaceae sp., 

 and fine clumps of orchids formed splashes of brilliant colouring. 



The shores of both the lakes are inhabited by small Alfuero or mountain 

 tribes. 



Phytogeographical results may be summarised as follows : — 



1. Wide distribution in Nrm Guinea of endemic mountain types. — Not only 

 have species common to the Arfak proved identical with several collected 

 recently by Kloss on the Utakwa Exjiedition to Moinit Carstensz in the S.W., 

 but also new species have been established in new genera or in genera first 

 recorded for New Guinea on that occasion. The same results apply to the 

 mountains of the N.E. and the S.E., for, amongst other striking instances, 

 Libocedrus, already known from both regions, is now established for the 

 N.W. as well, while two new species of Didiscus link up the Arfak with the 

 Owen Stanley range, on which one species of this genus was already known. 



2. Further evidence of Ncio Guinea us the centre of distribution for many 

 so-called Australian and also Polynesian types. — This fact is a marked feature 

 of recent German and Dutch exploration, and has been emphasised by the 

 well-known botanists who have worked out those results. To quote only a few 

 examples on the present occasion, Hibbertia, a genus hitherto supposed to be 

 limited to Australia and New Caledonia, is represented in the Arfak by a species 

 closely allied to the Australian //. voluhdis ; and the occurrence of Patersonia 

 and Centrolepis connects New Guinea both with Australia and with the summit 

 of Kinabalu, in North Borneo, and Mount Halcon, in the Philippines, while 

 Centrolepis is also known from South China. Both genera are new to the New 

 Guinea flora. 



Systematic results. — These comprise several new genera, whilst a large 

 proportion of the plants collected have proved new to science. Amongst the 

 latter, a Dacrydiuin, Libocedrus, and Kentia sp. are perhaps the most interesting. 

 Myrtaceae, Araliaceae, Ericaceae, Vacciniaceae, and Orchidaceae were the 

 natural orders most largely represented. 



Collections made round Manokoeari (Dorei Bay), on some of the islands 

 along the coast, and at Humboldt Bay have been separately enumerated, as no 

 two species proved common to both mountain and coast flora. Though many 

 new plants and interesting new records are included in this list, the larger 

 portion naturally comprises better-known Malayan types, though wide endemic 

 distribution is again emphasised. 



