BOTANICAL IN FORM A'I1()N\ 36'S 



Queen Cliarlotte, with a letter of toucliing simplicity. At 

 the time this fasciculus was prepared, nearly all the plants it 

 comprised were undescribed, and many were of entirely new 

 genera; several, indeed, have only been published very re- 

 cently, and a few are not yet recorded as natives of North 

 America. Among the latter we may mention Petiveria allia- 

 cea and Ximinea Americana, which last has again recently 

 been collected in the same region. This small parcel con- 

 tains the Elliottia, Muhl., Polypleris, Nutt., Baldivinia, Nutt., 

 Macranthera, Torr., Glottidium, Mayaca, Chaptalia, Bejaria^ 

 Eriogonum tomeniosum, Polygonum polygamum, Vent., Gar- 

 doquia Hookeri, Benth., Salureia {Pycnothymus) rigida, Clif~ 

 tonia, Hypericum aureum, Galactia Elliottii, Kramer ia lanceo- 

 lata, Torr., Waldsteinia {Comaropsis) lohata, Torr. & Gr., 

 the Dolichos? midtijlorus, Torr. & Gr., the Chapmannia^ 

 Torr. & Gr., Psoralea Lupinellus, and others of almost equal 

 interest or rarity, which it is much to be regretted were not 

 long ago made known from Bartram's discoveries. 



The herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks, now in the British 

 Museum, is probably the oldest one prepared in the manner 

 commonly adopted in England, of which, therefore, it may 

 serve as a specimen. The plants are glued fast to half-sheets of 

 very thick and firm white paper of excellent quality, (similar 

 to that employed for merchants' ledgers, &c.,) all carefully cut 

 to the same size, which is usually 16^ inches by 10|, and the 

 name of the species is written on the lower right-hand cor- 

 ner. All the species of a genus, if they be few in number, or 

 any convenient subdivision of a larger genus, are enclosed in 

 a whole sheet of the same quality, and labelled at the lower 

 left-hand corner. These parcels, properly arranged, are 

 preserved in cases or closets, with folding doors made to shut 

 as closely as possible, being laid horizontally into compart- 

 ments just wide enough to receive them, and of any conveni- 

 ent depth. In the Banksian herbarium, the shelves are also 

 made to draw out like a case of drawers. This method is 

 unrivalled for elegance, and the facility with which the speci- 

 mens may be found untl inspected, which to a working bo- 



