NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 4? 



several nights at the more dangerous places on the way to Tonnes' 

 Strait, as well as an afternoon's stay at Albany Island, gave me an op- 

 portunity of examining for the first time some of the tropical plants of 

 Australia ; and moreover our stay at Moreton Bay, where we received 

 the horses and sheep for the expedition, enabled me to form also some 

 botanical collections in the rich neighbourhood of that place. 

 ^ With Mr. Gregory's consent I have packed up all duplicates and all 

 seeds gathered at these localities, which will be sent to the Colonial 

 Office, London, through the Honourable T. Church, Eesident Coun- 

 cillor, Singapore. These collections are accompanied by the botanical 

 description of such species as I considered as yet undescribed or wrongly 

 classified, and also by lists of almost all the plants seen, but not always 

 collected, at the respective localities. The specimens, all in one box, 

 amount to nearly a thousand. Since I am however now of course des- 

 titute of any means of comparison, and as I am even, for want of room, 

 very insufficiently provided with books, I must crave your indulgence 

 with regard to some of the names of the plants adopted in the manu- 

 scripts ; indeed T deem it, under these circumstances, requisite that an 

 English botanist should compare the plants which I send with your 

 Herbarium previous to their publication. The manuscripts dwell upon 

 the following plants, viz. : — Benmsonia nohilis, Nephelium iomerdosum, 

 NepJielium edentulum, Geigera multijlora, Cocculus HooJcerianns, Pola- 

 nisia insularis, Abutilon acutatum, Sida dictyocarpa^ Euphorhia oraria, 

 PJiyllanthm gracillimus^ Psoralina prostrata, Brachycome microcarpa^ 

 Lagenophora pachyrrhiza, SoUva acauILs, Monenteles gnaplialioides, JleU- 

 cJirymm oxylepis, Kippistia riparia, Glycycocca tilicefoliay Mitrasacme 

 scahra, and Cassyta cusctitaformis. 



Above all I am very anxious to see the Sapindaceous genus Benni" 

 soma confirmed, as it may be a species only of some of Blumc*s addi- 

 tional genera of that order not inserted in Endlicher's genera. If you 

 deemed the publication of these manuscripts necessary or desirable, it 

 might also give a favourable opportunity of bringing some other allied 

 new species under notice from my unpublished former manuscripts; for 

 instance, Cocculus Ilarveyanus^ etc. 



It may not be quite uninteresting to sketch the vegetation on which 

 I had lately a passing glance ; for although, with few exceptions, the 

 plants alluded to in the index were no doubt long ago collected by 

 the late Allan Cunningham, still only a limited number of them has 



