216 BOTANICAL INFORMATION* 



• made of the leaves of an Iris, Iris tenax. Bread of some kind of bark 

 (N. W. America) formed into large cakes and dried in the sun : sup- 

 posed to be made from a Betula. A great deal of ornamental work is 

 made by the Indians of the wood and bark and fibres of various trees 

 and plants : these should be procured, and the plants ascertained from 

 which the substance is derived. Attention should also be paid to 

 every new object not yet known as the product of the country. 



Mr. Palliser will kindly assist in the forwarding, perhaps through 

 the Hudson's Bay Company's officers, whenever occasion presents itself, 

 seeds and roots, and such collections as it may be desirable to trans- 

 mit to England before the return of the Expedition. 



W. J. Hooker, 



Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew. 



* 



Upon the present occasion, in compliance with the request of the 

 Committee of the Royal Society appointed to draw up instructions for 

 the guidance of the officers of Mr. Palliser's Expedition, the following 

 additional ones have been appended to those already communicated to 

 the Colonial Office by Sir W. J. Hooker, and addressed to the Botanical 

 Collector. Most of the subjects to which they refer fall immediately 

 within the province of the Botanical Collector, and require from him 



S> 



nothing beyond attentive observation during the operation of collectin 

 with the proper performance of which duty they are on no account to 

 interfere; others, again, demand some special attention, as well as the 

 assistance of those officers who are more especially charged with the 

 Meteorological Observations, and these are generally required at pe- 

 riods when extensive collections cannot be made. 



I. "Varieties and abnormal forms of species should be sought for and 

 preserved ; and too much attention cannot be devoted to noting differ- 

 ences in habit, and obtaining the different forms of leaf, flower, etc., 

 that the same species produces at different periods of its growth, and 

 under different conditions of growth. When several specimens arc 

 taken from an individual, these should be from different parts of it, 

 and, whenever possible, specimens from several individuals should be 

 preserved. Abnormal forms, produced by the grazing of animals, 

 puncture of insects, and other accidental causes, should be collected, 

 and every endeavour used to trace the extent to which species vary, 

 and the causes of these variations. 



