78 MESSRS. HEMSLEY AND PEARSON ON 
Onasmall Collection of dried Plants obtained by Sir Martin 
Conway in the Bolivian Andes. By W. Borrina Hemstey, 
F.R.S., F.L.S., and H. H. W. Pearson, M.A., F.L.S. 
[Read 4th April, 1901.] 
Our knowledge of the plants of the Bolivian Andes is princi- 
pally due to the labours of D’Orbigny, F. J. F. Meyen, Pentland, 
and more especially those of Weddell and Mandon. D’Orbigny 
in 1830 ascended the western slopes to Lake Titicaca, crossed 
the ridge, and descended on the Eastern side as far as Chiquitos. 
On his return he visited the Highlands of Cochabamba and 
brought plants from the vicinity of the snow-limit*. He was 
followed a year later by Meyent. J. B. Pentland, a contem- 
porary of D’Orbigny aud Meyen, resided for some years in 
Bolivia as British Consul. He was particularly interested in the 
geology and meteorology of the Andes, and during his numerous 
journeys collected a few plants which are now at Kew. Some 
of these are from elevations exceeding 17,000 ft. 
The foundation of Weddell’s Chloris Andina, the classic con- 
tribution to our knowledge of the botany of the High Andes, 
was laid during his own journeys in the Bolivian Andes in 1845 
and the two following years. Doctor and botanist to a French 
expedition under the leadership of Francis de Castelnau, Weddell 
landed at Rio de Janeiro in June 1843. In May 1845, the 
expedition was at Villa Maria on the confines of Paraguay. 
Here Weddell severed his connection with the Castelnau 
expedition and followed an independent route westward. He 
crossed the Andes and travelled in a north-westerly direction 
through Chuquisaca and Cochabamba to La Paz. He thoroughly 
explored the banks of Lake Titicaca, crossing the numerous 
affluent watercourses “dans de singuli¢res embarcations com- 
poseés de deux grosses bottes ou cylindres de Joncs liés 
ensemble, et relevés en pointe aux extrémités.”{ This plant he 
states to be a Sczrpus near S. lacustris, which was found in great 
abundance. Several minor journeys were made among the 
mountains from the Lake as a centre. In the course of these 
* These are incorporated in the De Candollean Herbarium. 
+ Reise um die Erde. Berlin, 1834-8, vol. i. Kap. 8; vol. ii. Kap. 9. 
3 Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Série 3, vol. xiii. p. 95. 
