226 MAGUIRE 



Hermano Leon (J. S. Sauget y Barbier) and Hermano Alain (E. E. Liogier), 

 are based. 



Britton and his colleagues carried on intermittent but extensive field 

 exploration in Trinidad and had prepared from them the undated typescript 

 provisional list of the spermatophyta of the Trinidad flora (deposited in the 

 library of The New York Botanical Garden). The Flora of Trinidad and 

 Tobago, initiated by R. O. Williams, Vol. 1, 1928, an outgrowth of the 

 Britton preliminary work, has been issued irregularly since and is presently 

 in progress through the efforts of numerous contributors. 



The second great program was that initiated by Urban to provide new 

 materials for the preparation of his Symbolae Antillanae. The Swedish botan- 

 ist E. L. Ekman, on behalf of Urban and the Berlin Botanical Garden, was 

 sent to Cuba in 1914 and later to Hispaniola. He finally took up permanent 

 residence in the Dominican Republic and died there a comparatively young 

 man in 1931. R. A. Howard, contemporary student of the West Indian flora, 

 has written as follows {Bull. Torrey Club 79:84, 1952) : 



"Ekman's contribution to the knowledge of the Caribbean flora is the 

 greatest of any single collector. His work covered 17 continuous years in the 

 field and resulted in collections of over 35,000 numbers, 19,000 from Cuba 

 and over 16,000 from Hispaniola. His collections added 2,000 new species 

 to the known flora of the area. At least six new genera of plants bear his 

 name, and innumerable new species of plants, birds, and snails bearing his 

 name, reflect his contribution. His specimens will form the basis of study of 

 any future works on the vegetation of the Greater Antilles and the only 

 regret anyone has is that he did not collect more duplicates. 



"Ekman 's specimens were sent to Urban for study and the majority of the 

 types are now in the Riksmuseum in Stockholm. Unfortunately many of the 

 types were kept in Berlin and were destroyed during the war. Ekman's pub- 

 lications on the Caribbean were few for he intended to write later. However 

 his letters and complete notes preserved in Stockholm will supply the field 

 observations of an outstanding taxonomist and ecologist for future research 

 on Caribbean flora." 



For twenty-one years, William Fawcett, Director of Public Gardens and 

 Plantations in Jamaica, gave especial attention to botanical exploration of 

 the island, which resulted in more than 13,000 collection numbers. From 

 1910 to 1926 Fawcett and Rendle published five volumes of their Flora of 

 Jamaica. The work of this Flora had a rich botanical history, beginning with 

 the collections and publications of Hans Sloane, Patrick Browne, Joseph 

 Banks, Olof Swartz, and others. Perhaps the most extensive series of modern 

 collections (17,480 specimens) of the island is that made by N. L. Britton 

 and his colleagues, which is deposited at The New York Botanical Garden. 

 Recently field study in Jamaica has been re-activated by William T. Stearn 

 of the British Museum (Natural History) and the resident botanist George 



