illustrated by the South African Flora . 15 
tion. P. bracteolata at the Cape has, according to Bolus and Wolley-Dod, 
produced a variety umbellata adapted to higher elevations on the hillsides. 
The genus Mundtia has two species, one at the Cape, the other in Brazil. 
M. spinosa has three varieties. Muraltia is a South African genus with 
about fifty species in the south-western region, four in Natal, two in the 
Transvaal ; cf. Heliophila. Securidaca , on the other hand, is a typical genus 
with no representatives farther south than Rhodesia and the Transvaal. 
One species, S', longipedunculata , is very widespread from Abyssinia to the 
Transvaal and is very variable. The genus is much better represented in 
tropical America. 
Malvaceae . 
This tropical or subtropical family has many representatives which 
have spread over South Africa as over other temperate regions in other 
parts of the world. Species of Sida and Abutilon , genera well represented 
in the tropics, spread as weeds mostly over the eastern side. Pavonia 
is chiefly American, but some of the tropical African species (e.g. P. macro - 
phylla , P. odorata ) are very widely distributed from Natal to Abyssinia, and 
even to India. On the other hand, there are several endemics with narrow 
ranges (e. g. P. Dregei , P. Kraussiana) around the margins of coast-belt 
bush. Hibiscus as a genus is distributed all over South Africa and several 
of the species are interesting. H. tiliace 7 is is a tropical or subtropical sea- 
shore species, very distinct and remaining so, widely distributed all round 
the tropics. H. trionum is a very common subtropical weed, which gives 
rise to numerous distinct varieties. H. aethiopicus occurs all over South 
Africa and, like many others, could be broken up into several distinct 
species. Malvastrtim is a genus with some twenty species mostly concen- 
trated in the south-west, only one, M. capense , reaching Natal. It also 
comprises many American species. 
It will be seen that, in the course of our survey of the families, we 
meet with many examples of isolated species with no obvious connexions, 
whose distribution can only be explained by ordinary methods of migration, 
e. g. Hibiscus tiliaceus. It is not our immediate object to give examples of 
these, except incidentally, but they%will be referred to as a class later. 
Sterculiaceae . 
The genus Hermannia (including Mahernici) is a very large one, 
distributed over all South Africa, and with over 100 species. Again 
it illustrates most of our points. We find variable and widespread species 
like H. candicans , H. salvifolia , H. jlammea, in the process of breaking up 
into several distinct varieties or species ; we find H. cuneifolia , which is 
common at the Cape, replaced on the dry plains around Graaff Reinet by 
the nearly related H. desertorum ; we also find that at the Cape itself 
H. cuneifolia has given rise to two other closely allied but rarer species, 
H. decumbens and H . alnifolia . The eastern species, in most large 
