180 Wight's botanical letters. 



have been falling for several days. My horror was not les- 

 sened on finding the first plant to be the worthless Cissampe- 

 los convolvulacea. These were bad omens, but as I proceeded, I 

 found that the wet had not penetrated deep, and that among 

 the plants there were really some good things, perhaps not 

 quite so many as I anticipated ; but then I believe I ex- 

 pected more than I had a right to, considering how many I 

 had already received from a country so near that from which 

 they came. I wish that I could devote a couple of months 

 to the Courtallum mountains now, that is, when the rams 

 are somewhat over. I am strongly impressed with the idea 

 that the Flora amounts to at least two thousand species; in- 

 deed I may say I am quite sure of it, for I have already ob- 

 tained half that number, although but a small portion only of 

 the hills has been gone over: the whole space does not exceed 

 ten miles in length, and at the very utmost two in depth, 

 showing an extraordinary fertility and variety of distinct 

 forms. When I have gone over and numbered the whole ot 

 the collection, 1 intend to send a second article for publica- 

 tion on the subject, in which I will dilate on this fertility, 

 calling the attention of the people in power to a circumstance 

 so remarkable, and urging the propriety of having the 

 country adequately explored. I have done so in some degree 

 in my first two papers, and in the second I give more details 

 than I could venture on in the first. M. Delessert has been 

 so kind as send me the first volume of the Flore de Senegambie. 

 In it I perceive that lleidleia corchorifolia, has been replaced 

 in Melochia; the anthers of that plant are most peculiar, and 

 well worth your examination, particularly before the flower- 

 bud opens; I suspect it will be found when compared wiui 

 otiier Melochias to be quite a distinct genus, but it is one ot 

 those common plants that nobody thinks of examining care- 

 fully. 



November IQth, — My despatch is completed, the box made, 

 and all but ready to be filled to-morrow ; the ship sails the 

 end of the week, so that there is no time now to be lost- 

 have looked over the Flore de Senegambie again in a ver} 



