HISTORICAL NOTE. ix 
The following letter affords an interesting testimony to the 
importance Maximowiez attached to the Enumeration :— 
Petersburg Botanic Garden, 
15 September, 1885. 
DEAR ŜIR, 
You have caused me a most agreeable surprise by the 
gift of the first fasciculus of Messrs. Forbes and Hemsley’s 
most important enumeration of the flora of China. I need not 
tell you that it will be a constant and most useful source of 
reference to me and that I am extremely grateful for this 
laborious and well-executed undertaking which will save me an 
immense deal of work, when occupied with my own work on the 
neighbour-floras. The interest I take in it is still more lively 
through the important set of Dr. Henry’s Hupeh plants, recently 
received from the Kew Herbarium, in which I find quite a 
number of the novelties. It appears, however, that the first orders 
were already printed when Dr. Henry’s collection reached Kew. 
What a pity it is that our esteemed Dr. Hance did not live to 
see the commencement of a work which would have elicited his 
most lively interest and approval. 
Believe me, ete., 
(Signed) C. J. Maxrmowicz. 
The late Baron Richthofen, the greatest authority on the 
physieal geography of China, was no less appreciative of the 
value of the work :— 
Berlin W., Kurfürstenstrasse, 117, 
January 20, 1889. 
My dear Mr. Tirskpros-Dyzn, 
It has been a very pleasant surprise to me, this morning, 
to receive from you the * Index Flore Sinensis.” I thank you 
sincerely for this kind token of remembrance. 
It is of great value to have now a Flora of China embodying 
all the species known from that country. You have evidently 
succeeded at Kew to get up a very complete collection. At the 
same time, in looking over the localities mentioned in the book, 
it strikes me that large portions of China are still unexplored 
botanically. "There remains a splendid field for a good collector 
in the Tsinking mountains, the proviace of Sz'-chwan, and chiefly 
its elevated regions west of Chéng-tu-fu. Work in those parts 
will be greatly facilitated by the solid foundation laid through 
the work of Forbes and Hemsley. 
Yours very truly, 
(Siened) F. RICHTHOFEN. 
