TEOPICAL PLOKAS 55 



ilar relation of the mammals, birds, and insects of the two 

 island groups have been pointed out in my Island Life, and 

 leads to the conclusion that the islands have, at some distant 

 period, been almost or quite united. 



The Flora of Celebes 



Very little was known of the flora of this extremely inter- 

 esting island till 1898, wdien Dr. S. H. Koorders published a 

 large quarto volume of nearly 750 pages, giving the results of 

 his own collections during four months in the north-east pen- 

 insula (Minahasa) together with all that had been made known 

 by the few botanists who had previously visited the islands. 



Dr. Koorders himself collected or examined 1571 species, of 

 which nearly 700 were trees ; and he has given lists of 468 

 species w-hich had been collected in various parts of the island 

 by other botanists, making a total of 2039 species of flowering 

 plants. The great peculiarity of the flora is indicated by the 

 fact that nineteen of the genera of trees are not kno^\Ti in 

 Java ; wdiile the affinities are, on the whole, more Asiatic than 

 Australian, as is the case with the animals. The closest affin- 

 ity is W'ith the Philippines, as with the birds and mammals, 

 as indicated by a new genus of trees (W allacesdendron celehi- 

 cwn), allied species having been since found in the adjacent 

 group. Dr. Koorders also remarks that some of the plants 

 have very peculiar forms, almost comparable with those I have 

 pointed out m its butterflies. One of these is no doubt the 

 new^ fig-tree (Ficus minaliassa) , a drawing of which forms the 

 frontispiece of this volume. It is about 40 feet high, the 

 fruits hanging thickly from the branches in strings 3 or 4 feet 

 long, giving it a very remarkable appearance. His general 

 result is, that the flora is very rich in peculiar species, but 

 rather poor in peculiar genera. 



As this work is wholly in Dutch, I cannot give further 

 details, but having counted tlie species in each natural order 

 I will add a list of the ten largest orders for comparison with 

 others here given : — 



