220 Miscellaneous. 



most interesting, little known, and far distant parts of the world, 

 under the superintendence of directors, secretaries, &c. 



" 2. The introduction to tins Society is open without limitation 

 to amateurs and collectors generally ; its only conditions are the sub- 

 scribing a fixed sum for one or more shares (or even portion of 

 shares) in each or any of the announced expeditions ; such sum to 

 be paid at the time of entering the application, &c. 



"3. Each subscriber may bespeak either a larger or smaller share 

 in the anticipated proceeds of any given enterprise as may suit his 

 ■wishes or convenience, recollecting, however, that the most liberal 

 and extensive supporters have the first claim for the most complete 

 collections, &c." 



The above appears to give a sufficient intimation as to the general 

 rules of the Society, which, however, extend to seven principal 

 enactments. 



Report of the present position of the Society and its enterprises : 

 the latter, now in progress, extend to three principal expeditions, 

 viz. : — 



First, Tliat confided to Wilhelm Schimper into Abyssinia. Of 

 this a portion of the dried plants is now being distributed into sets 

 for the subscribers under the eye of the secretaries at Esslingen, who 

 report that the first delivery will (it is hoped) be ready in about two 

 months' time ; this will include the plants collected up to the close 

 of the year 1837, and contains many genera entirely new to European 

 botanists, and about one-half of the number of species will also, it is 

 believed, prove new and undescribed. The seeds have already arrived, 

 and are by this time in the hands of the various subscribers in Eu- 

 rope ; they consist of small packets of 100 species, and some few 

 sets are made up of 200 species. 



Second, Kotschy's journey into Southern Nubia, Cordofan, Fas- 

 sokel, &c., is looked upon by botanists with scarcely less interest than 

 the former one by Schimper into Abyssinia, embracing as it does a 

 most extraordinary region, and one whose botany is at present almost 

 entirely unknown, with the exception of some small previously ob- 

 tained collections made by the same traveller a few years ago, and 

 which, being offered for sale at Vienna, were eagerly purchased. 

 Intelligence from Theodore Kotschy is now anxiously looked for, as 

 none has been received of a very recent date. That already pos- 

 sessed by the Society warrants them in earnestly inviting more sub- 

 scribers to come forward and support this most deserving and cou- 

 rageous young man in an expedition of no ordinary interest and 



