306 FLORULA HONGKONGENSIS. 
"separated from the base of the leaf, is reduced to shreds. After having 
been put in the sun for a day, and tied into a knot, the straw is im- 
mersed into boiling water until it becomes white. It is then hung up 
in a shady place, and subsequently bleached for two or three days. 
The straw is now ready for use, and in this state sent to different 
Places, especially to Peru, where the Indians manufacture from it those 
beautiful cigar-cases, which fetch sometimes more than 67. apiece. 
The plaiting of the hats is very troublesome. It commences at 
the crown, and finishes at the brim. They are made on a block, 
which is placed upon the knees, and requires to be constantly pressed 
with the breast. According to their quality, more or less times is oc- 
cupied in their completion: the coarser ones may be finished in two 
or three days, the finest take as many months. The best times for 
plaiting are the morning hours and the rainy season, when the air 1 
moist : in the middle of the day and in dry clear weather, the straw is 
apt to break, which when the hat is finished is betrayed by knots, and 
much diminishes the value. 
Here I must pause. Sufficient has been said to show that in the 
Isthmus of Panama Nature has distributed her gifts with no sparing 
hand ; and I have, hitherto, strictly confined myself to noticing these ; 
in another article I shall endeavour to give a general view of the Agri- 
culture, and to point out those productions which, by the agency of 
man, have been introduced from foreign countries. 
(To be continued.) 
— ——— 
FLORULA HONGKONGENSIS : an Enumeration of the Plants collected 
in the Island of Hong-Kong, by Capt. J. G. Champion, 95/2 Reg., 
the determinations revised and the new species described by GEORGE 
. BENTHAM, Esq. 
(Continued from p. 264.) 
TERNSTR@MIACER. 
A more detailed account of the Hong-Kong Ternstreemiacee, by 
Capt. Champion, was read before the Linnean Society in the autumn 
of 1850; but as a considerable time must elapse before that paper 
Can appear in the Society's Transactions, the diagnoses of the new 
species are here repeated, with some additional observations, suggested 
