450 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



one nation alone: English, French and Germans alike have 

 participated in it ; but in each case by totally different 

 bodies of persons. Thus the collections that have reached 

 this country were made almost exclusively by English 

 missionaries ; the French collections were made, to a large 

 extent, under Government auspices ; and the German col- 

 lections by independent explorers. Numerous botanists 

 have contributed to the publication of the plants discovered 

 by the various travellers. 1 The English collections chiefly 

 by Mr. J. G. Baker (6), Mr. H. N. Ridley (7), and Mr. G. 

 F. S. Elliot (8 and 9), who described the plants collected 

 by himself; the French collections almost entirely by Dr. 

 H. Baillon (10 and 11); and the German collections by 

 various botanists (12 to 18). Dr. Baillon long ago com- 

 menced an enumeration of the plants of Madagascar (10), 

 but this is still far from complete ; and 1 am greatly in- 

 debted to Mr. J. G. Baker for kindly permitting me to use a 

 manuscript index he has compiled to the places of publica- 

 tion of the plants of Madagascar up to the present time. 

 The Rev. R. Baron, who has resided many years in Mada- 

 gascar, and who is the most successful and persevering of 

 the English collectors, drew up an account (19) of the 

 vegetation and flora of the island, based upon the published 

 material and personal observation. To this article I am 

 indebted for many of the following particulars, somewhat 

 modified in some instances by subsequent discoveries, or 

 publication of previous discoveries. For more complete data 

 respecting the monocotyledons and gymnosperms I have 

 consulted Durand and Schinz (20), whose work, so far as it 

 goes, has been of immense assistance, as it includes the 

 whole of the African Islands, both of the Atlantic and 

 Indian Oceans. 



Madagascar, it may be convenient to remind the reader, 

 is situated almost wholly within the southern tropic, and 

 is one of the largest islands of the world, being approximately 

 (21) 1000 miles in length, with an average width of 250 

 miles, while, according to the same authority, the highest 



1 Only the vascular plants are taken into consideration here. 



