THE ROYAL HERBARIUM AT MUNICH. 67 
together with those of Burmann from Ceylon, already mentioned, they 
form one of the most important parts of the Schreberian herbarium, 
It is less rich in African plants; and although Vahl had given 
some from North Africa, Isert from Guinea, and Sparmann and Thun- 
berg from the Cape of Good Hope, yet these contributions are of little 
extent in comparison with the vegetable treasures received in modern 
times from those regions. 
We have already mentioned that Schreber had received some con- 
tributions of the American floras from the Moravian missionaries at 
Labrador. He likewise got somewhat extensive materials sent by Von 
Wangenheim and Mühlenberg, from New England, though they were 
mostly anonymous and recommended to more close examination. Several 
hundred species were collected by Dr. Crudy at St. Thomas and the 
Bahama Islands; and, above all, a most valuable selection of original 
specimens of the plants of the West Indian Flora, gathered and com- 
municated by O. Swartz, whose * Icones Plantarum Incognitarum ° and 
‘Flora Indice Occidentalis? were printed at Erlangen, under the super- 
intendence of Schreber (1791-1806). But, on the other hand, there 
was scarcely a single representative of the flora of the South American 
continent; and the same remark applies to the peculiar vegetation of 
Australia, with the exception of a few genera purchased of Joh. Reinh. 
Forster. fay 
It is clear from the preceding observations, that neither in a syste- 
matic nor phyto-geographical point of view, does the Herbarium Schre- 
berianum satisfy the claims of modern times; especially as it has great 
deficiencies in some of the principal forms, and wants representatives 
altogether in some of the large floral territories. Strictly speaking, 
at the time when these collections were purchased by the State, they 
had been already distanced by three decenniums of progress and de- 
velopment in Systematic Botany.* It became ‘the object, 
wards. Dr, John Rôttler I saw in 1812 and 1813 at Madras, on my voyage to and 
from the Mauritius. Like the late Dr. William Carey, he was heart and soul de- 
voted to the missionary cause, he was a great orientalist, and ardently attached 
to the study of plants. The venerable man died in his 87th year, on the 27th 
January, 1836, His important herbarium has. been finally presented to King’s 
College, London. In the church at Vi , Madras, there is an affecting tablet 
erected to his memory; and several Réttler-scholarships have likewise been founded _ 
at the seminary attached to it. . He was born at Strasburg, in June 1749.—N. JF. 
* It was at the solicitation of the bookseller, that Schreber, who had been _ 
engaged Beaty dem 1775 in publishing his ‘ Natural History of Mammalia,’ could 
