quarto work dedicated (under the name of Malesia) to 
botanical observations on Malayan and Papuan plants, and 
of which these two parts occupy 212 pages, with fifty-four 
excellent plates. In them he describes various plants 
which are hosts for insects, of the orders Myristicee, 
Euphorbiacea, Verbenacee, Leguminosee, Araliacee and 
Palmee, but the bulk of the work is devoted to the four 
Rubiaceous genera, Myrmecodia, Hydnophytum, Myrme- 
phytum and Myrmedoma, under which their botany and 
the economy of their growth, and of the insects they 
harbour, are described with a fulness and ability that are 
quite admirable. 
Of Myrmecodia itself there are eighteen described 
species, besides the present one, of which details were 
sent to Dr. Beccari, who did not recognize it as any of 
those known to him: the genus extends from Sumatra and 
Singapore to New Guinea, North Australia, and the 
Solomon’s Archipelago. Besides that here figured two 
species have been found in Torres Straits, M. Antoinii, 
Bece., and M. Muellerii, Becc., and no doubt more remain 
to be discovered in New Guinea and its neighbourhood. 
Living specimens of one or more species of Myrmecodia 
from North Australia have been received at Kew at various 
times, from the Botanical Gardens of Brisbane and Sydney, 
but after such protracted voyages that they have arrived 
in too weak a condition to survive long. For the plant 
here figured, the Royal Gardens are indebted to the 
liberality of Messrs. Veitch, who imported it from 
Brisbane in 1884, with the information that it was found 
in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and is extremely rare there: 
it came to Kew in January, 1886, in seeding condition, 
and flowered in the following February; it continues to 
flourish, as do seedling plants raised from its fruit, and 
now in June it is again in fruit. It requires great heat, — 
and is treated like an epiphytic orchid. I have named it 
: ee oa eminent botanist and traveller alluded to above.— 
Figs. 1 to 4, Germinatin d a 
: ting and young plants; 5, flower; 6, corolla laid open; 
7 and &, front and back view of stamens ; 9, ovary :—all enlarged. 
ais Jal 
