438 MR. HISAYOSHI TAKEDA ON THE 
History or THE BOTANICAL EXPLORATION. 
The first botanist to collect plants on this island was Prof. K. Miyabe, 
of Satporo, the author of the “Flora of the Kurile Islands," * who, accord- 
ing to his narrative, spent two hours and a half at Shakotan harbour 
on July 28th, 1884. The number of species he collected and observed 
at this place is said to be 86 f, of which 79 are enumerated in his list. 
Since this time several persons who had an occasion of visiting this island 
have made collections, and many plants have been brought back, which 
are additions to the flora of Shikotan. Among them, Mr. S. Yokoyama, 
who explored the island in August 1890 from the geological point of view, 
did some collecting at various places ; his specimens are preserved in tho 
Herbarium of the Agrieultural College of the Tohoku Imperial University 
at Satporo. Mr. T. Ishikawa paid a visit to the island in June 1894, and 
his specimens are also at Satporo. In the next year Mr. T. Kitahara 
gathered some plants, which, together with those collected by him on Urup, 
one of the Kurile Islands, have been published by Mr. H. Matsudaira T. 
His specimens are preserved in the Herbarium of the Science College, 
Imperial University, Tókyó. In August 1898, Mr. T. Kawakami spent 
a few hours at Shakotan in the course of his botanical exploration of Eturup 
and Urup. Lastly, in 1890, Mr. M. Aizawa brought back a few plants 
which are also preserved at Satporo. All these collectors, except 
Mr. Yokoyama, stopped for a few hours only at Shakotan, and did not 
proceed into the interior of the island. 
My visit was paid in July 1909, when I was travelling in various parts of 
Yezo. I first arrived at Shakotan by a small steamer of about 50 tons at half 
past three in the morning on the 15th. At Shakotan I botanized in the 
neighbourhood and also made an ascent of Shakotan-yama. After three days’ 
stay | went over to Anama, about 10 miles west of Shakotan, where very 
good accommodation was offered to me by the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Arai, 
who possessed a fishing station there. Here I explored the neighbourhood, 
now on the hills, and then on the rocky cliffs. While I was at Anama, one 
day a good opportunity was offered to me for going by boat to the mouth of 
the Poropet, where, besides many other interesting plants, 1 collected some 
which I eame across nowhere else. From Anama I made an excursion to 
Tokkari-Masuba, another fishing cove some 15 miles west of this place, 
whenee to Debari, along the coast, and then round the bottom of Kompu-usu- 
yama to Kiridóshi and. Matsugahama through a magnificent forest of the 
Kurile larch, which is known only from this district on the island. From 
* Publ. in Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. vol. iv. no. 7, 1890. 
t L. c. p. 205. 
t “List of Plants collected in Kurile Islands by T. Kitahara," in Tókyó Dot. Mag. ix., 
1895, 
