339 
Meconopsis and Cathcartia. 
The Californian species are confined to the 35 0 to 40° lat. N. zone, so 
that they do not extend the genus further to the north than do the Asiatic 
species. The European species M. cambrica, however, is exceptional in the 
genus in this as in other distributional characteristics, for it extends through 
more than 12 0 of latitude, and occurs in the zones 40° to 45 0 , 45 0 to 50°, 
and 50° to 55 0 . 
The tables foregoing show the facts of distribution as regards altitude 
and latitude in a more compact form. 
Taken as a whole the facts of distribution as regards Meconopsis seem 
to indicate that, however advisable it may be to treat the flora of central 
and eastern China as distinct from that of India or even of Indo-China, 
the alpine flora of western China is essentially the same as that of the 
Himalayas. 
It is highly probable that our acquaintance with this genus is as yet far 
from complete. Our knowledge of the high Himalayan valleys is doubtless 
fairly adequate so far as the region from Kashmir to Kumaon is concerned, 
and it is hardly to be anticipated that any species of Meconopsis remains 
undiscovered between Ion. 73 0 and Ion. 82° E. But as regards Nepal we 
know nothing of the high alpine vegetation save within a narrow segment 
near the 85th meridian, which has been investigated by Wallich and Scully. 
Thanks to the energy of Sir J. D. Hooker, and to the efforts of Sir G. King, 
a small section of the eastern Himalaya between the 88th and 89th 
meridians has been as fully explored as any portion of the north-west 
Himalaya, with the result that this narrow strip has yielded no fewer than 
eleven species, of which seven, so far as we know, are peculiar to this 
limited belt. Some of these seven, like M. grandis , M. discigera , and 
M. bella , have only been found in the extreme west of the belt, and in all 
likelihood extend westward into unexplored Nepal ; others, like M. snpevba 
and M. primulina, have only been found in the extreme east of the same 
narrow strip, and equally probably will be found to extend eastward into 
Bhutan. Between the 99th and the 105th meridians, from 25° to 40° lat. N., 
we have a belt of country which, thanks to the efforts of French missionaries 
in the south and centre, and of Russian explorers in the centre and north, 
supplemented as regards the centre by those of English travellers, has been 
tolerably investigated. This belt has also yielded eleven species, of which 
again seven, so far as we know, are peculiar. Of the alpine vegetation of 
the Himalayan region between the 89th and the 99th meridians we know 
practically nothing ; and of the Tibetan region behind and to the north we 
only know that, out of four species of Meconopsis which it has so far 
yielded, two, M. torquata from the Kyi-chu valley and M. pseudointegrifolia 
from the Ra-chu valley, are distinct from any species recorded from either 
of the belts of relatively well-explored country alluded to. If all the 
circumstances are considered we seem entitled to anticipate that the 
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