BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 251 
kindness of Mr. Layton, H.B.M. Consul at Amoy, and we have now 
the pleasure of communicating some further intelligence, derived from 
C. J. Braine, Esq., a gentleman who has recently returned from Hong- 
Kong, bringing a rich collection of living plants for the Royal Gardens 
of Kew, and many curious vegetable products for the Museum of the 
same establishment,—together with a thin volume of well-executed 
drawings by a Chinese artist, on Rice-paper,—said drawings exhibiting 
the several states or conditions of the Rice-paper plant, from the pre- 
. paration of the seed to the packing of the material for exportation. 
We have selected two out of the eleven of these drawings for our 
Journal, as illustrative, in the one case, of the growing plant, and in 
the other, of the mode of cutting out, or forming, the sheets of this 
paper. The first of these (Tab. VIII.) does, indeed, exhibit the grow- 
ing plant as of so strange a character, that no botanist to whom we 
have shown it can conjecture to what family it may belong; and 
one is naturally led to inquire how far the correctness is to be depended 
upon; more especially as the representation is quite at variance with 
a Chinese figure, said to be that of the Rice-paper plant, in the pos- 
session of J. Reeves, Esq., of Clapham, alluded to at p. 29, supra. 
We should, however, be disposed to think more favourably of the 
correctness of a series of drawings made expressly for the purpose of 
illustrating the History of the ** Rice-paper,” than of a solitary and 
isolated figure expressly required to be made by a European. In this : E 
latter ease “ John Chinaman” is, perhaps, not wholly to be trusted. — 
We cannot do better in this place than describe the figures given 
in the book in question, sure as we are that such a notice will call 
the attention of our friends in Chjna to this subject, and especially 
of those who have the means of communicating with the Island of - : 
Formosa, where alone (some say) the plant is found, “in the swampy — 
grounds, province of Sam-swi, at the northern part of that little-known 
island.” We may here observe, in favour of the fidelity of representa- 
tion of the plant, that the figures and accompaniments are well 
executed, and with every appearance of accuracy, and that the same 
form and relative size of the plant runs through the several repre- 
sentations. T 
Drawine No. 1. This and the two following drawings in the 
volume assure us of the fact that the Rice-paper plant is an object of 
cultivation. Here a Chinaman is represented with two baskets, one 
2x29 
