122 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



ledge of the vegetable productions and of the physical distribution of 

 plants in other and very different quarters of the globe. 



1. The further Exploration of " Kwora and Benue" (or, as they have 

 been commonly called, the Niger and Tsadda), by Dr. William Balfour 

 Baikie, E.N., etc. — The eminent success which attended the researches 

 of this gentleman in his survey of these waters, as described in his 

 'Narrative'* lately published, having returned without the loss of a 

 single man of his company, has induced the Admiralty to fit out an- 

 other expedition for further investigations in the same region ; and 

 what was felt to be so much wanted on the last voyage, is happily sup- 

 plied on the present occasion. Mr. Barter, one of the most intelligent 

 of the gardeners in the Regent's Park Botanic Garden, has been ap- 

 pointed botanist to the expedition, and if his life and health be spared, 

 the results cannot fail to be of great importance. A suitable vessel is 

 preparing for the voyage, and Dr. Baikie and Mr. Barter take their 

 passage to Sierra Leone by the Royal Mail steamer during this month, 

 April, to make preparations there, and await the arrival of their own 

 vessel a few weeks later. May every success attend them ! 



2. Survey of Vancouver s Island and the adjacent Coasts of British 

 North America, by Captain Richards, R.N., in H.M.S. Plumper. — This, 

 we need hardly say, is another Admiralty survey ; and, though no one 

 accompanies it in the exclusive character of botanist, yet we know that 

 the Commander will afford every facility to his officers for collecting 

 plants, and the surgeon, Dr. Forbes, and assistant-surgeon, Dr. Camp- 

 bell (the latter being more especially charged with the duties of this 

 department), will fee] it a duty and a pleasure to prosecute botanical 

 researches whenever they have the opportunity ; and they are supplied 

 with the means of collecting and pi'eserving plants. Vancouver's Is- 

 land cannot fail to be exceedingly interesting to the botanist. No one, 

 we believe, has ever set foot upon it, save the excellent Menzies, during 

 the voyage of Capt. Vancouver ; and, lying as its northern portion does, 

 in the same parallel of latitude with the South of England, its vegeta- 

 tion would be well suited to our climate. It abounds in mountains 

 and forests, and is said, like the adjacent continent of North America, 

 to possess many kinds of Pines ; but as the atmosphere is considerably 



* ' Narrative of an Exploring Voyage up the rivers Kwora and Benue, in 1854, 

 by William Balfour Baikie, M.D., R.N., etc, etc., in commaud of the Expedition. 

 Murray, 1856. 



