398 



i). Prain — Tha Vegetation of the Coco Oroup. [N"o. 4, 







u 



< 



S. E. Asia. 





p-l 



< 











o 





Species. 



1— I 



c3 



o 

 o 



c8 



Is 



13 

 1— I 



45. Ficu3 breviouspia 



Ficus callosa ... 



Ficus hispida 



Fions grisea ... 



Antiaris toxioaria 

 60. Artocarpas Gomeziana ... 



Zingiber sp. ... 



Costus speciosug 



Smilax macrophyllus 



Asparagus racemosus 

 65. Dracaena spicata 



Amorphopballus sp. 



Pothos soandens 







X 

 X 



X 



X 

 X 

 X 



X 



X 



[X] 

 X 

 X 

 X 

 X 



[X] 



[x] 



X 

 X 

 X 

 X 



[X] 

 X 



X 

 X 

 X 



X 

 X 



X 



X 

 X 



X 



X 



- 



- 



X 



X 



X 



X 



The most remarkable feature of the list is that it gives us for the 

 first time a well-defined group of species none of which extend to 

 America or even to Polynesia, and only two of which extend to Africa, 

 though no fewer than 15, or 27 per cent., extend to Australia. The 

 remaining 40 are confined to South-Eastern Asia. As regards their 

 more local distribution there, 17, or 31 per cent., are confined to lands 

 lying to the east of the Sea of Bengal, while 3 more occur in Ceylon 

 but not in India, a circumstance which perhaps indicates that birds 

 which feed on these species pass from Malaya to Ceylon but do not 

 visit India. If this be the case the agency of frugivoroiis birds may 

 part]y explain the existence of a Ceylon element in the flora of the An- 

 damans generally, a circumstance that has, as already said, been made 

 the subject of remark by the late Mr. Kurz, (Report on the Vegetation of 

 the Andaman Islands, p. 15) ; this point will be more fully discussed 

 below. 



As many as 36 species, or 64 per cent., occur both in Indo- China 

 and in Malaya ; as 15 pass southward to Australia while 14 pass northward 

 to South China, and 5 pass southward to Malaya without going north to 

 Indo-China, while 5 reach the islands from Indo-Cbina without extend- 

 ing to Malaya, we may conclude that, though this element in the flora is 

 distinctly non-Indian, the Indo-Chinese and Malay- Australian influences 

 are, so far as it is concerned, evenly balanced. 



Since the active agencj in the dispersal of these species is that of 



