54 THE WORLD OF LIFE 



August 1909. This shows the large total of 4656 indigenous 

 flowering plants already collected, though extensive areas in all 

 the islands, and more especially in the great southern island 

 Mindanao, are altogether unexplored. Besides these, there are 

 no less than 791 ferns and their allies, a number which is 

 probably not surpassed in any other country of equal extent 

 and as imperfectly explored. The Malay Peninsula has rather 

 more flowering plants, but its ferns are only 368, as given in 

 ]\rr. Eidley's list, issued in 1908. The following is the 

 sequence for the first twelve orders (excluding introduced 

 plants) from Mr. Merrill's lists: — 



Philippixes (4G56 species) 



1. Orchideffi 372 



2. Eubiacese 267 



3. Leguminosae 258 



4. Euphorbiacese 227 



5. Urticaceae, with ]\Ioraceae . . 221 

 G. Graminese 215 



7. Cyperaceae 137' 



8. Myrtaceae 105 



9. Palmse 100 



10. Asclepiadeae 94 



11. Melastomaceae 86 



12. Compositae 83 



Ferns 791 species. 



Comparing this with the Malay Peninsula (jd. 18), we find 

 the first four orders in similar places of the sequence, while 

 Anonacese, ScitamineiT, and Melastomacese give way to Myr- 

 tacese, Palma^, and Asclepiadeae. 



The Philippine flora has a large proportion of its species 

 peculiar to it. In some families, such as the Ericaceae, Ges- 

 neracese, Pandanacese, etc., almost all are so. Among species 

 of limited range some interesting facts have been ascertained 

 by Mr. Merrill. Of identical or closely allied species in sur- 

 rounding countries, 39 have been found to extend to northern 

 India, 38 to China, and 21 to Formosa, while only 9 have been 

 noted in the nearer islands of Borneo, Java, and Sumatra. 

 But the most decided similarity is found between the Philip- 

 pines and Celebes, 76 species having been found either identical 

 or represented by allied species ; and, considering how very 

 imperfectly the Celebesian flora is known, the amount of simi- 

 larity may be expected to be really very much greater. A sim- 



