48 



THE WORLD OF LIFE 



their great numbers in Burma, but even more to the fact 

 that in the whole range of the Himalayas epiphytic Orchids 

 extend far into the temperate zone, while in the more eastern 

 ranges they are pre-eminently abundant. This is well shown 

 by the well-explored district of Sikhim, in which Orchids take 

 the first place, not only in the tropical lowlands, but in the 

 temperate zone from 6500 to 11,500 feet above the sea-level. 

 It is possible that in some parts of the temperate Andes, wdiere 

 Orchids are known to be extremely plentiful, the same pro- 

 portion may exist ; but no such district appears to have been 

 yet sufficiently explored by botanists. Before going further 

 it will be as well to give the sequence of the orders in the 

 districts already referred to. 



Tropical Sikhim (up to 6500 feet) (2000 species) 



1. Orchideae (1) 



2. Leguminosae (2) 



3. Gramineae (3) 



4. Urticacese (8) 



5. Euphorbiaceae (5) 



6. Cyperaceae (7) 



7. Rubiacese (4) 



8. Compositae (9) 



9. Aselepiadeae 



10. Acanthaceae (6) 



The numbers enclosed in brackets give the sequence in 

 Burma, Avhich is very similar, except that Scitaminese (the 

 Gingerworts) is the tenth order, while Asclepiadese is ex- 

 cluded. 



The Malay Peninsula differs still more from the flora of 

 north-eastern India, in being more exclusively equatorial and 

 typical Malayan, and in this case I am able, through the kind 

 assistance of Mr. J. T. Gamble, to give the number of species 

 for the first twelve orders, which will be interesting for com- 

 parison with others to be given further on. 



Malay Peninsula (5138 species) 



1. Orchidaceae 540 



2. Rubiaceae 312 



3. Leguminosae 266 



4. Euphorbiaceae 255 



5. Anonaceae 178 



6. Palmae 163 



Ferns 



7. Lauraceae 153 



8. Gramineae 144 



9. Zingiberaceae (Scitamineae) 137 



10. Gesneraceae 131 



11. Acanthaceae 128 



12. Cyperaceae 127 



368 species. 



