O DENDROBIUM. 



drobes that find favour with amateurs are confined to a comparatively 

 small portion of it, in which the climatic phenomena and conditions, 

 though by no means uniform, are very similar throughout. This 

 portion of the Dendrobium region may be best delineated as a zigzag 

 belt of variable width, that commences at the western limit of 

 distribution among the lower ranges of the Nepalese Himalayas, at 

 about the 80th meridian, E. (the most westerly species, so far as we 

 have been able to ascertain, being D. amoenum), thence extending 

 eastwards through Assam into Southern China ; from Assam it turns 

 southwards through Indo-China, where the Dendrobes appear to be 

 confined chiefly to that portion of the peninsula which lies west of the 

 mountain chains dividing the watersheds of the Irawaddy and Menam 

 valleys, being most abundant in southern Burmah and the adjacent 

 province of Moulmein, which is the richest Dendrobium district known. 

 Southwards from Moulmein the number of known species diminishes 

 rapidly, owing perhaps more to the fact that a great part of the 

 peninsula south of Tavoy not having yet been sufficiently botanically 

 explored, than to the absence of Dendrobes. From the southern 

 extremity of the island of Sumatra, the belt turns eastwards, extending 

 through and including nearly the whole of the great Malay Archi- 

 pelago as far as New Guinea, over which is scattered a large number 

 of Dendrobes, but most of them with small inconspicuous flowers. 

 "From New Guinea it again turns southward, embracing but a narrow 

 strip along the east coast of Australia as far as Cape Howe. Nearly 

 the whole of the Dendrobes described in the following pages occur 

 within the comparatively narrow limits here sketched, the exceptions 

 being from Southern India, Ceylon, the Philippine Islands and Japan. 

 The maps must be accepted as an attempt only to illustrate fairly 

 the geographical distribution of Dendrobium; hence the following 

 explanation respecting them is rendered necessary. As stated above, 

 the distribution of the genus is somewhat peculiar; thus, in Assam 

 (including the Khasia Hills), Moulmein and Java, a large number of 

 species are crowded together within a comparatively small area, so 

 that it is impossible to insert their names in type sufficiently clear 

 within the limits of the area in which they occur; for this reason, 

 the Moulmein Dendrobes, on account of the horticultural importance 

 of the greater part of them, are given in a marginal list. The 

 Javanese Dendrobes, upwards of sixty in number,* having no such 

 # Fide, Mwuel. Fl. ind. bat. III. 629—635 



