PREFACE. ix 
Orchidacee of Java, Sumatra, and the Philippines, countries so 
peculiarly rich in those plants, should at present be comparatively 
unknown to him. Many Chinese specimens have been obtained 
through the Rev. Mr. Vachell, who sent his plants to Professor 
Henslow, of Cambridge, and from Mr. Reeves; but of (hat country 
and Japan very little can be said to be known. 
The Orchidacee peculiar to New Horrawp were carefully 
examined by Dr. Brown and Mr. Ferdinand Bauer during Flinders's 
Voyage; and the author has been so fortunate as to be favoured 
with authentic specimens of some of them from Dr. Brown him- 
self; he has also been kindly furnished by Dr. Endlicher with 
tracings of most of Mr. Bauer's drawings preserved in the Imperial 
Library at Vienna; and he has received materials from the late 
Mr. Allan Cunningham, the Council of the Linnean Society, Mr. 
Everett, Sir Thomas Mitchell and others. It is, however, to the 
collections of Swan River plants formed by Mr. Drummond, and 
most especially to a very large quantity of Tasmannian specimens, 
most liberally furnished by Mr. Gunn, that the author is indebted 
for means of examining the Orchidacez of Australia, as is amply 
testified by the references in the following pages. There are still, 
however, many species from the East and North Coast, with which 
he has no acquaintance. ; 
New ZEALAND is as yet almost an unknown land with respect to 
Orchidacexw. Species from that island or from any parts of the 
Pacific will in all cases be particularly welcome. 
In an order like this, so peculiarly intricate in the structure of 
the organs of fructification, collections of dried plants would be 
of little value, in the absence of that kind of knowledge which 
can only be obtained from the study of living species. For the 
latter the author is so extensively indebted to the friends of science 
in this country, that to acknowledge his obligations particu- 
larly, would be to publish a list of all the principal gardens 
where such plants are cultivated in Great Britain. lt would, 
however, be unjust not to mention the names of his friends, the 
Messrs. Loddiges, as the most constant of all his correspondents, 
and as those to whom he has been indebted during many years for 
a continual and most abundant supply of beautiful living specimens 
of the utmost rarity. 'The large quantities of plants sent him by 
James Bateman, Esq., the author of the noble work on the Orchida- 
Cee of Mexico and Guatemala, and by George Barker, Esq. of 
Birmingham, the possessor of an invaluable collection of Mexican 
B 
