170 MR. D. OLIVER, JUN., ON THE 



The Indian Species of Utricularia. By Daniel Oliver, Esq., 

 Jun., E.L S. 



[Read Dec. 16, 1858.] 



Some few months ago Dr. J. D. Hooker was kind enough to 

 entrust to me, for arrangement, the very valuable collection of 

 Utricularias brought together by himself and Dr. Thomson during 

 their recent Indian journeys, with also an ample series of the 

 Southern and Ceylon species collected by the late Dr. Stocks, 

 and the numerous excellent botanists whose contributions are 

 acknowledged by the authors of the ' Flora Indica' and the ' Pra^- 

 cursores.' In addition to these, moreover, I may mention the 

 important series in Griffith's extensive herbarium, until recently 

 in the keeping of the East India Company, but now, through the 

 exertions of Dr. Hooker, in course of arrangement at Kew. 

 Erom the excessive entanglement of the nomenclature of this 

 interesting genus, at least of its Indian members, I found it 

 needful thoroughly to re-examine nearly every form, and to work 

 them up in the first place almost de novo, irrespective of their 

 literature ; and it is in the trust that the views which I have 

 felt myself required to adopt, as to the limitation, &c. of the 

 species, may serve as a stepping-stone to their more complete 

 illustration, that I venture to lay before the Linnean Society the 

 result of my inquiries. A few species from the temperate region 

 of the Himalaya are new, and especially demand publication, from 

 their common peculiarities. 



In the elaboration of these plants, I have derived great advan- 

 tage from the herbaria of Sir "William J. Hooker, of Gr. Bentham, 

 and Dr. "Wight, which have been most freely placed at my ser- 

 vice ; these, with our Wallichian and Smithian collections, and 

 the important fasciculi preserved in the British Museum, have 

 been invaluable in determining their synonymy, otherwise quite 

 inextricable, as well as their range in respect not only to varia- 

 tion in form, but also of geographical distribution within the 

 borders of the Indian empire. Unfortunately, the insufficiency of 

 material, particularly as to North Australian and African species, 

 and, to some extent, to those of the Eastern Archipelago, pre- 

 cludes any satisfactory working-out of their general distribution ; 

 and upon this head, from the importance of absolute accuracy in 

 the identification of species, I feel it the safest course to say but 

 little. I have especially to congratulate myself on the ample 



