52 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



appeared in such an imperfect form. A useful feature in this list is the distinction of 

 indigenous and exotic plants, which is nowhere attempted by Burchell. Of the former 

 cateo-ory there are fifty-eight, including two or three obviously designated exotic by mis- 

 take. Besides the descriptive matter, the catalogue contains some interesting particulars 

 of the relative frequency or rarity of a few of the species. 



The naturalists of the French exploring expedition (Duperrey in " La Coquille "), 

 1822-1825, collected plants in St Helena; but the botany of the expedition was never 

 completed, only the cryptogams and the grasses having been published, by Bory de St 

 Vincent and Brongniart respectively. 



Based upon Roxburgh's work, two mere lists ' of the introduced and indigenous plants 

 were published, but they are utterly devoid of botanical interest. A sketch of the flora 

 appeared in Antomarchi's Derniers Moments de Napoleon (Paris, 1825). This we have not 

 seen, but De Candolle, referring to the works just noticed, designates it 2 "la moins 

 pitoyable des quatres Flores publiees jusqu'k present." A fair estimate of its merits may 

 be arrived at from the fact that forty-three species of ferns are enumerated without any 

 indications of which are native, and so on in other orders. 



Omitting the names of numerous small contributors of dried specimens of St Helena 

 plants to Kew and the British Museum, which are cited under the plants they contributed, 

 there is nothing of importance to note previous to 1840. In that year Dr (now Sir 

 Joseph) Hooker, who was attached to Sir James Ross's Antarctic Expedition, had an 

 opportunity of spending nine days on the island, and he made as complete a collection of 

 the indigenous plants as he could at the season (Jan. and Feb.) ; yet he did not find one 

 species that had not been previously collected, and several of those in the earlier collec- 

 tions had become so rare that he did not succeed in getting specimens. On the homeward 

 voyage (May 1843) a few more days were spent on the island. 



In 1851, H.M.S. "Herald" touched at St Helena, and Dr B. Seemann, the naturalist 

 of the expedition, made a considerable collection of dried plants, which are at Kew. 



Subsequent to the publication of his Lecture on Insular Floras, Sir Joseph Hooker 

 described and figured a number of the more interesting St Helena plants, 3 and since then 

 nothing of importance has appeared except Melliss's St Helena. 4 This work deals with 

 every branch of natural history, as well as geology, meteorology, &c. ; and it is a most 

 interesting book, though, as might be expected where an author attempts so wide a range 

 of inquiry, it is defective in some of its details. The botany is perhaps the least 



1 (1.) Flora Santa Helcnica [Beatson], St Helena. Printed by J. Boyd, 1825. 



(2.) An Alphabetical List of Indigenous and Exotic Plants growing on the Island of St Helena, compiled 

 by Stephen F Pritchard. Printed by G. J. Pike, 11 St George's Street, Cape Town, 1836. 



2 Geographic Botanique, ii. p. 1218 (1855). 



3 Hooker's Icones Plantarum, xi. (1867-71). 



4 St Helena: A Physical, Historical, and Topographical Description of the Island. By John Charles 

 MelliBa. Loudon, 1875. 



