296 
As to the orchids, now regarded as the largest 
family of plants, Merrill presents these figures 
on the number of species: 
New Guinea . 2,000 
Philippines . 900 
Fiji . 125 
Tahiti . 30 
Marquesas .. 4 
Hawaii . 3 
New Zealand has 66 species, and an old 
figure (Hooker’s) for Tasmania is 74—large 
enough to point strongly to Antarctic origin. 
The overwhelming mass of tropical orchids 
are epiphytes. I have compiled no figures, but 
am advised that in the Philippines, and in all 
that part of the world, the ratio of epiphytes 
to terrestrial species is more nearly ten to one 
than five to one. In New Zealand, there are 
7 epiphytes and 59 terrestrial species; in Tas¬ 
mania, 1 epiphyte and 73 terrestrial species. 
The paucity of epiphytes in the far south may 
be explained by the climate. But Polynesia is 
tropical. Its ratio of epiphytic to terrestrial 
orchids is about three to one—not more than 
half of what should be expected if colonization 
had been from New Guinea. The obvious con¬ 
clusion seems to be that it was colonized from 
farther south, and that adaptation to tropical 
conditions remains incomplete. 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. II, October, 1948 
Conclusion: The ferns, and a considerable 
part of the flowering plants, of Polynesia are 
of austral origin. As to the bulk of the flower¬ 
ing plants, I cannot claim, against Merrill’s 
recently published judgment, that the present 
tendency of thought is in support of my views, 
but have shown that some of his detailed figures 
do support them. 
REFERENCES 
Christ, Hermann. 1910. Die Geographie der 
Fame. 357 p., 1 pi., 3 maps. G. Fischer, 
Jena. 
Copeland, E. B. 1938. Genera Hymenophyl- 
lacearum. Philippine Jour. Sci. 67: 1—110. 
Diels, Ludwig. 1936. The genetic phytogeog¬ 
raphy of the southwestern Pacific area, with 
particular reference to Australia. In: Essays 
in geobotany in honor of William Albert 
S etch ell. T. H. Goodspeed, Ed. xxv + 319 p. 
University of California Press, Berkeley. 
Hooker, J. D. 1860. On the origination and 
distribution of species:-Introductory essay to 
the flora of Tasmania. Amer. Jour. Sci. II, 
29: 1-25, 305-326. 
Merrill, E. D. 1945. Plant life of the Pacific 
world, xv + 295 p. Macmillan, New York. 
Skottsberg, Carl. 1915. Notes on the rela¬ 
tions between the floras of subantarctic Amer¬ 
ica and New Zealand. Plant World 18(5): 
129-142. 
