BOTANICON SINICUM. 137 
Chinese books, reference to them is not easy. The reader will 
hardly imagine the trouble involved in bringing together the 
fragmentary information presented in the following pages. The 
bibliographical notices given there have no claim to completeness. 
The author’s sole aim in compiling these notes was to ascertain 
the time when the works quoted in the Pen ts‘ao kang mu and 
other Chinese books on Natural History, Materia medica and 
Medicine were published, without entering into details regarding 
the subjects dealt with in these treatises. It is generally im- 
possible to say, from the mere title of a Chinese book, to what 
branch of literature it belongs; and even after an examination of 
the work itself it is often difficult to indicate in a few words its 
contents. This is especially the case with the writings classed in 
Chinese catalogues among the A 3 and the aJy HE Fe (miscel- 
laneous writings and essayists in Wylie’s Notes on Chin. literature), 
and frequently quoted in the Pen ts‘ao. In many cases merely 
the title of the work and the date of publication are given in the 
following list. The authors are generally quoted only if their 
names appear in the quotations of the Pen ts‘ao, The reader who 
would desire more information about these works and their authors 
is referred to the general works on Chinese literature which are 
invariably quoted. 
Although I have apparently exhausted all the Chinese sources 
of information regarding Chinese literature obtainable in our 
days, I have not been able to ascertain the date of publication of 
all the treatises appearing in the list of the Pen ts‘ao. As there 
are many misprints and inaccuracies in the editions of this work 
how extant, the titles and authors’ names are occasionally misspelt. 
Some errors of this kind have been corrected; others may have 
escaped my attention. On the other hand, Li Shi chen, in quoting 
authors or works in his Materia medica, frequently abbreviates 
the title, or gives the author’s pseudonym instead of his true 
name appearing in the list. I may be allowed to quote a few 
imstances, 
The treatise # Ja} JE BE Yin shan cheng yao of the P. list med. 
16 (No. 1096 of my list) is generally quoted in the text as JF B. 
P. list 26 we read 7 $§ BS 3 Chien Kua’s Meng kG 
Pi tan (see my list No. 510); but in the text of the Pen ts‘ao the 
