BOTANICAL BIOLOGY. 403 



ascertain the accurate botanical name of a plant, no botanist througliout 

 the civilized world is at a loss to identify it. 



But precision in nomenclature is onlj^ the necessary apparatus of the 

 subject. The data of systematic botany, when j^roperly discussed, lend 

 theu^selves to very important generalizations. Perhaps those which, 

 are yielded by the study of geographical distribution are of the most 

 general interest. The mantle of vegetation which covers the surface of 

 the earth, if only we could rightly unravel its texture, would tell us a 

 good deal about geological history. The study of geographical distri- 

 butiou, properly handled, atibrds an independent line of attack upon the 

 problem of the past distribution of land and sea. It would probably 

 never afford sufihcient data for a complete inde])endent solution of the 

 problem ; but it must always be extremely useful as a check upon other 

 methods. Here however we are embarrassed by the enormous amount 

 of ^vork which has yet to be accomplished. And unfortunately this is 

 not of a kind which can be indefinitely postponed. The old terrestrial 

 order is fast passing away before our eyes. Everywhere the primitive 

 vegetation is disappearing as more and more of the earth's surface is 

 brought into cultivation, or at any rate denuded of its forests. 



A good deal, however, has been done. We owe to the indomitable 

 industry of Mr. Bentham and of Sir Ferdinand Mueller a comprehen- 

 sive flora of Australia, the first large area of the earth's surface of which 

 the vegetation has been completely worked out. Sir Joseph Hooker, in 

 his retirement, has pushed on within sight of completion the enormous 

 work of describing so much of the vast Indo-Malayau flora as is com- 

 prised within the British possessions. To the Dutch botanists we owe 

 a tolerably complete account of the Malayan flora proper. But New 

 Guinea still remains botauicall^* a ierra iucogmfa, aud till within the 

 last year or two the flora of China has been an absolute blank to us. 

 A committee of the British Association) has, with the aid of a small 

 grant of money, taken in hand the task of gathering up the scanty 

 data which are available in herbaria and elsewhere. This has stim- 

 ulated European residents in China to collect more material, and the 

 fine collections which are now being rapidly poure<l in upon us, will — if 

 they do not overwhelm us by their very magnitude — go a long way in 

 supplying data for a tentative discussion of the relations of the Chinese 

 flora to that of the rest of Asia. I do not doubt that this will in turn 

 explain a good deal that is anomalous in the distribution of plants in 

 India. The work of the committee has been practically limited to central 

 and eastern China. From the west, in Yunnan, the French botanists 

 have received even more surprising collections, and these supplement 

 our own work in the most fortunate manner. I have only to add, for 

 Asia, Boissier's "Flora Orientalis," which practically includes the Med- 

 iterranean basin. But I must not omit the invaluable rei)ort of Brigade- 

 Surgeon Aitchison on the collections made by him during the Afghau 

 delimitation expedition. This has given au important insight into the 



