126 DR. D. LYALL ON THE BOTANY 
This appears to me to be the proper place in which to record 
ihe obligations whieh Sir William Hooker has conferred, in his 
publie capacity, upon science, and, in a private one, upon myself, 
for whatever value the results of my labours may possess. The 
attachment of a botanist to the Boundary Commission was due to 
his powerful representations to Her Majesty's Government; and 
I owe my own appointment to that office to his friendship and 
the kind offices of Admiral Washington, the Hydrographer of the 
Admiralty. 
During the whole progress of the expedition I was honoured 
and stimulated by Sir William's encouraging correspondence, and 
on my return he allowed me the free use of the noble Herbarium 
at Kew for the purposes above detailed. 
During the time that I was employed at Kew, and indeed pre- 
vious to that, as far as regards the classification of my earlier col- 
lections, I received the most cordial and essential aid from Mr. A. 
Black, A.L.S., Curator of the Herbarium, but for whose extensive 
knowledge of American botany and its literature, and intimate 
acquaintance with the plants in the Herbarium, I could not have 
named my collections with that accuracy which, thanks to his 
exertions, may now be confidently claimed for them. 
To my old friend Professor Harvey, F.R.S., of Dublin, the 
distinguished Algologist, I am indebted for the examination and 
description of the Algæ, an account of which will be found in the 
6th volume of the Linnean Society's Journal. 
I have been fortunate in securing the services of Mr. William 
Mitten, A.L.S., in the arrangement and naming of my extensive 
collections of Mosses, Hepaticz, and Lichens, which thus have the 
value of being named by one of the most able and assiduous 
Cryptogamists in England. Mr. Mitten further intends to draw 
up an account of them for publication. 
A large collection of Fungi was formed, and preserved principally 
in saline solution. These, it was hoped, would have enabled some 
botanist in that obscure and difficult department to have thrown 
some light on the species of North-west America; but the Rev. 
M. J. Berkeley, F.L.S., to whom they were submitted, states that 
they have had their distinctive features so much altered as to render 
them unfit for description. 
I should be ungrateful did I omit to mention here also how 
much indebted I am for the kind support which I received from 
Lieut.-Col. Hawkins, R.E., Her Majesty's Boundary Commis- 
