362 THE .rOURXAL OF BOTATs^T 



RE-VIEW. 



An Interpretation of Rumpliins's Herharium Amhoinense. By 

 E. D. Merrill. 8vo, pp. 59.3. Maps. Manila : Bureau of 

 Printing, Nov. 1, 1917. 



Species Blancoancs : a Critical Revision of the Philippine Species 

 of Plants described hy Blanco and by Llanos. By E. D. 

 Merrill. 8vo, pp. 42."j. Manila: Bureau of Printing, June 15, 

 1918. 



Mr. Elmer D. Merrill, to whom botanists are so greatly in- 

 debted for his researches in Philippine botany, has added to their 

 indebtedness bj' the publication of the works named above. He had 

 already shown his competence for an undertaking of the kind by his 

 Review of the Identifications of the Species described in Blanco's 

 Flora de Filipinas (19U5), but that was a light task compared with 

 that presented by the Herbarium Amboinense, which, since its pub- 

 lication in the middle of the eighteenth century, has furnished a store- 

 house of information for botanists, from Linnteus downwards, and has 

 also presented numerous puzzles which, thanks to Mr. Merrill, have 

 now for the most part been solved. The work could not have been 

 better done, from whatever point of view we regard it : it is fitly 

 dedicated to Dr. Charles Budd Robinson (1871-1913), who at 

 Mr. Merrill's suggestion had undertaken the task, and had proceeded 

 some way towards fulfilling it when, after less than five months' field 

 work, he was murdered by natives not far from Amboina, leaving its 

 completion in Mr. Merrill's hands. 



In the readable introduction, the importance of the Herbarium 

 Amboinense, which " it is by no means certain is fully appreciated," 

 is set forth, and a warm tribute is paid to the extent and value of the 

 book. An account of the author, George Everhard Rumpf (1627- 

 1702) follows, and of his undertaking ; this is followed by a general 

 account of Andjoina and its flora, which is typically Malayan, with a 

 considerable endemic element, and of the arrangements which were 

 made for its exploration " with the special object of collecting and 

 studying the Rumphian species in their native habitat in connection 

 with all data given by Rumphius." In 1900 Dr. Boerlage, of the 

 Buitenzorg Garden, accompanied by Dr. J. J. Smith, visited Amboina 

 with this olDJect, but he contracted fever and died in August of the 

 same year. It was not until 1913 that the exploi-ation begun by 

 Dr. Robinson was approved and set on foot, but he had previously 

 carefully analyzed Rumpf's volumes and laid the foundation for a 

 complete enumeration of their contents. 



Following this comes a section on the interpretation of Rumphian 

 species as types and by various authors, from Linnseus and Stickman 

 (1754) to Hasskarl (1806) : Mr. Merrill calls attention to the dif- 

 ferences existing between Stickman's original dissertation and the 

 reprint in Amoen. Acad. iv. (1759), and points out that " certain 

 binomials which have not been listed in the Index Kewensis appear 

 in the 1759 reprint " : this also applies to other numbers of the 



