PREFACE.: ' ix 
society before his death, and we trust that the publication will be ere long. = 
continued. He had at the same time prepared a commentary on the 
Hortus Malabarieus, which we believe is in the possession of the Lin- 
nean Society of London: that on the three first volumes is all which has 
yet appeared in their Transactions. From both these commentaries much 
useful information may be derived, particularly from the latter, from Dr 
Hamilton having himself explored a considerable portion of Malabar, as 
well as the contiguous province of Mysore ; in many instances, however, 
we fear that his conclusions have been obtained from incorrect data, and _ 
in such cases we ourselves do not hesitate to dissent from them. 
The Thesaurus Zeylanicus of John or the elder Burmann, was pub- — 
lished in 1737, with 110 plates, containing figures of 155 plants, which 
are generally very characteristic and well executed. Although the 
island of Ceylon does not fall within the geographical limits of our work, 
the plants of both countries are often so much the same, that these plates 
must be considered as a great auxiliary, not only in determining the 
southern species of the Peninsula, but also in elucidating those of the 
Hortus Malabaricus. 
Burmann's work appears to have been principally drawn up fom spe- 
-cimens collected by Dr Paul Hermann, who was sent out in 1670 (he 
remained till 1677) to Ceylon, at the expense of the Dutch East India 
Company, for the purpose of describing all the plants and spices grow- 3 
ing in that island. Hermann’s Museum Zeylanicum was first published — — 
in 1717, although it appears to have been written many years before ; 
besides the plants of Ceylon, it contains many species collected at the — 
Cape of Good Hope, unfortunately not distinguished from the others, à — 
circumstance which afterwards led Linnzus into the error of considering 
. them all natives of the East. 
© from the colleetor having been so eminent a man, induced Linneus to 
. . form many new genera, and settle many doubtful species. He pu 
. - * Hermann’s herbarium had been lost upwards of half a century, until — — 
~ chance threw it into the hands of M. Gunther (apothecary to the King ——— 
_ of Denmark), who sent it to Linneus, requesting him to examine it, and 
. affix the names to the plants throughout the collection. Its. great value, 
examine the whole with much attention, and he was thereby enabled to 
the result of his labours under the title of Flora Zeylanica, sistens k 
Indicas Zeylonæ insulæ, que olim 1670-1677, lectæ fuere a Paulo: Her- 
. manno, Professore Botanico Leydensi; demum post 70 annos ab A. 
. Gunthero, Pharmacopwo Hafniensi, orbi redditz. (Holm. 1747, 8vo. 
pp. 254. tab. 4.) In an appendix, the new genera are concisely given 
by themselves, copied from an academical dissertation published under cu 
. . Linnsus' presidency, by C. M. Dassow. This appendix occupies 14 _ 
. pages out of the 254, and there are indices to the whole of the botanical, - 
