neæ; and with several distant regions through pinus, quercus, acer, rhus, rhododendron, azalea, myrtus, lonicera, rubus, &c. Few of these plants connecting it elsewhere are shared with neighbouring regions, if we make some exception in favour of Japan: but of its more tropical species many occur equally in the various parts of India and the Malay islands. Through paliurus, diospyros, olea, and tamarix, we are reminded of Asia Minor. Species of euphorbia partially replace the cactea of the New World.

XXXVIII. THE BIRMAH REGION.

EXTENT.-At present we separate this region rather because it has not the features of the neighbouring regions, than from any known peculiar characters of its own, since so little is known concerning it. It embraces a large portion of country extending south from the Himma-leh mountains, between the Ganges on one side, and the Gulf of Tonquin on the other, with the exception of the Malacca peninsula, which belongs to the Malaisia Region; including thus the kingdoms of Birmah, Siam, and Cochin China.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.-The interior is little known. The country would appear productive, and is watered by several large rivers.

CLIMATE.-Tropical, but apparently without those extremes of temperature so frequent in the China Region. FLORA. Botanists have hitherto made very slight inroads. Loureiro has given us a fragment of the vegetation of Cochin China. Aurantiaceæ seem to be nearly as frequent as in the China Region, and there are several of the most tropical plants in common, but a nearly complete absence of those of more temperate latitudes, which so abound

there. In Assam the tea plant has been found in abundance, and the leaves have been since manufactured and exported to England. Some of the species of Blume's Flora Javæ occur here, and perhaps also of other of the Malay islands. RELATIONS.-Unknown.

XXXIX. THE MALAISIA REGION.

EXTENT.-The numerous islands of the Indian Ocean, of which Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, the Phillipines, Flores, and Timor, are the most extensive. The Moluccas are not included, as they belong to the New Guinea Region; the peninsula of Malacca, however, forms an important part of this region.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.-Bold scenery and lofty mountains are especially characteristic of these islands, and extensive traces of volcanic action are in many places apparent. They are generally distinguished for their rich soil and fertility, the latter due to a moist atmosphere, frequent heavy rains, and the constant influence of a hot sun. Though some of the mountains are extremely lofty, they rarely attain the elevation of perpetual snows.

CLIMATE.-The equator traverses the region, and produces a difference in the distribution of the seasons in the islands somewhat removed from it. Those to the north have their wet seasons from May to September or October, being nearly the same as our summer. To the south, the rains commence in October and cease about April. At the equator, the distinction of these seasons is less decided, the different parts of the year being very similar. The range of temperature is very small in the year or during the day. The thermometer generally stands at 86° to 90°.

The rains are very heavy, and the air is usually laden with moisture.

FLORA. With few exceptions, the whole of the islands are covered with forest, which is particularly exposed to that rapid growth and decay consequent on a humid and warm atmosphere. It is rich in species, and distinguished as the source of some of those remarkable for their aromatic or luscious qualities, and which might be easily diffused throughout the region. In many respects they are the same as those of the Indian regions, with such differences as depend on climate. Leguminosæ, malvaceæ, and some others, are therefore not proportionately numerous.

Java is a rich and fruitful island. Its forests are filled with cinchonacea, which abound here in astonishing numbers, and which would seem to be the spot of greatest intensity of the family. Hydrocereæ, having only a solitary species, is confined to the island. The curious rafflesia and the famous antiaris toxicaria are indigenous. On the elevated lands of the interior quercus and other genera of a temperate climate are encountered.

Sumatra and Malacca, like Java, are covered with forests, supporting or sheltering a luxuriant vegetation, among which orchidaceæ, ferns, and climbers, are very numerous; and the dead wood is often invested with lichens of gloomy colours.

Celebes has an estimated superficies of 70,000 square miles. The forest vegetation is thinner than elsewhere, and the surface often very rocky. The neighbouring island of Borneo, however, has the usual vast compact forest, in which the dryobalanops camphora is conspicuous, and where at present it is confined.

Timor is distinguished for its sandalwood forests, but santalum is probably diffused over all the islands.

The Phillipines, though nominally belonging for so long

a time to the Spaniards, are really in possession of the natives, and sealed against Europeans; they are, therefore, little known. Some of the tropical plants of the China Region are found here, and the seasons are directly the reverse of those in the southern islands. From these and some other reasons, they may, perhaps, deserve to be considered as a distinct region.

RELATIONS. In the circumstances of the climate, and in some of the more prominent productions, there is a clear resemblance with some parts of the Oronoco Region. In the superior prevalence of cinchonaceæ in both, this is particularly manifest. With the Indian Regions there is much in common, and tectona grandis and other trees abound in the forest of Java, though dipterocarpeæ belongs chiefly to the islands.

XL. THE HINDOSTAN REGION.

EXTENT.- Vast research has been already devoted to the immense flora of intertropical Asia, but the results rather make us acquainted with detached portions, than convey a general view of the whole. Thus there are extensive districts hitherto unexamined, and of which we consequently know nothing. A difficulty, therefore, exists, amounting in some cases to an impossibility, of defining its regional vegetation. However, there are important points of difference between the portion known as Hindostan and that comprehending Birmah and Cochin-China, and for the present we will regard the Ganges as an arbitrary line of distinction. To the north are the Himma-leh Mountains, and to the west the region probably crosses the Indus to the Solyman range.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.-Great diversity of character is

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visible over this extensive surface. In the neighbourhood of the rivers, particularly that of the Ganges, the surface is an extensive alluvial plain, where a hillock would be a a novelty. In other parts, a number of secondary mountain chains traverse the country, and give rise to many rivers and streams which carry fertility through their course. These elevations are often extremely bold and rocky, and are sufficiently great to affect the vegetation and climate. On the whole the soil is fruitful, and in some places eminently productive; in others there are occasional sandy or rocky districts.

CLIMATE.-The seasons are tropical, with perhaps a greater range of temperature than is customary for the latitude. At Calcutta the mean heat is 79° 4, and the temperature sometimes falls to 63°; at Madras the mean is 84° 4, and at Bombay 81°9. The quantity of rain has been estimated at Calcutta to be 81 inches annually, and at Bombay 82 inches. In the Nhilgerries, where the elevation influences the climate, the mean of the year at Serloo, elevated 3,500 feet, is 70°; at Jackanary, 5,000 feet, 60°; and at Ootacamund, 8,500 feet, 56° 6. At the latter, the average fall of rain is about 64 inches.

FLORA.-The magnificent vegetation of this region presents all that is rich and beautiful, and such as can be expected within the tropics. The extensive forests contain a great variety of trees, often of surpassing magnitude; and frequently the number of individuals is very great, as in the saul forests which skirt the base of the Himma-leh Mountains, and sometimes in the assemblage of palms in situations suited to their growth. We have only room to state, that the mass of the vegetation is derived from the following natural families: araliacea, nelumboneæ, capparideæ, flacourtianeæ, anonaceæ, myristiceæ, dilleniaceæ, laurineæ, menispermeæ, sterculiacea and dombeyaceæ,

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