264 ITO ET MATSUMURA : (Ü) 



a century ago, when he wrote that they '' wear a loose dress, 

 tied with a belt round their waist, their hair is brought tight 

 up from all sides, and formed into a knot on the top of the 

 head, with two metal pins stuck in it," and "this dress is 

 naturally so graceful, that even the lowest boatmen have a 

 picturesque appearance." 



The investigation of the beautiful flora of such a fairy-land 

 should, therefore, prove not only very interesting to the public, 

 but also not without importance as a contribution to the present 

 state of our scientific knowledge of Eastern Asia. 



The present work is intended to be simply a preliminary 

 contribution to the botany of these islands. The authors' labours 

 will be amply repaid, if they serve to facilitate further researches 

 in the same field. 



The materials upon which tlie work is based are as 

 follows : — 



1. A small, but interesting, set of some 124 species, many 

 of which, however, are in fragments, collected by Mr. Yamada 

 of the University of Tokyo, during his short stay for the purpose 

 of physical observations at Nafa in the island of Uchina, and at 

 Naze in the island of Amami-Oshima in August, 1882. 



2. Mr. Y. Tashiro's important collection made in 1887, and 

 preserved in the Herbarium of the College of Science of the 

 Imperial University of Tokyo. This collection, hitherto but 

 partially examined and determined, though more than a decade 

 has elapsed since it was made, now at length finds fall recogni- 

 tion in the present work. It covers the widest area in the 

 Lûchû Islands, including Amami-Oshima, Uchina, and the 

 Myaku and Yema (or Yayeyama) Archipelagoes, and consists of 

 some 600 species of Phanerogams and Vascular Cryptogams. 



