155 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
Voyage of CAPTAIN DENHAM, R.N. 
We have occasion in our present Number to speak of the return of 
H.M. Surveying-ship Herald, from the North Pacific, in 1851. She 
has already been refitted, and has sailed under the command of Captain 
Denham, R.N. (accompanied by a small steam-ship as tender), on a 
surveying voyage to the South Pacific Ocean, having especially in view 
the survey of the Fijee Islands, New Caledonia, ete. This may be 
considered as a continuation of the survey of the late Captain Owen 
Stanley, R.N., in H.M.S. Rattlesnake. In that survey, chiefly among 
the Papuan Islands, Mr. Macgillivray (who lately published the account 
of the voyage) was appointed Naturalist, and he brought home a beau- 
tiful collection of plants, and most extensive collections in Zoology. 
The same gentleman is transferred, with the same duties, to the 
Herald ; and, thanks to the Admiralty, and to Captain Denham, the 
scientific staff is increased by the appointment of Mr. Milne as Botanist 
and Assistant Naturalist, from the Royal Gardens of Kew. We know - 
from what the Naturalists of the United States Exploring Expedition 
are reported to have done in the Fijee Islands, and from what was - 
done more recently by Mr. Moore, of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, |. 
during the short visit he paid to New Caledonia in H.M.S. Havana 
(Captain Erskine), that a rich field for Botany is open to the Na- - 
turalists of the Herald on the present occasion. We are sure that - 
nothing will be wanting on the part of the commander of the expe- - 
dition that can contribute to its success in all departments of science. 2 
Mr. Ww. GARDINER, of Dundee. 
Few of our readers but are aequainted with the botanical wri 
and the beautifully-prepared specimens of Scottish plants by Mr. Wm. 
Gardiner, of Dundee. Like his predecessors in the same career, Don 
and Drummond, his mind has been more set on studying the works - 
of nature than on laying by a provision against a time of sickness and © 
old age; and now it has pleased Providence to prostrate him with 
severe illness, at a time when, we have reason to know, he ‘is wholly © 
dependent for support on what a few personal friends and others have 
B 
