LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDO^T. 



29 



attachment of Major Collett of the 23rd Pioneers to his column as 

 Assistant Quarter-Master-General. He remained in that capacity 

 for two years, and his valuable work was acknowledged by his 

 chief, who said that it was by means of information gained by 

 Collett which enabled Eoberts to turn the strong Afghan position 

 on the Peiwar Kotal, by adopting the Spingawi route. 



Though he began to study botany in 1877, it was during this 

 expedition that Collett seems first to have seriously taken up the 

 subject, his previous favourite pursuits having been astronomy 

 and physics. Brigade-Surgeon Aitchison proposed to Collett early 

 in 1879 that he should be attached to the column which Avas 

 destined to advance on Cabul ; the results of this expedition were 

 published in our Journal (Botany), vol. xviii.(1880)pp. 1-113. Late 

 in that year Collett paid a flying visit to England, but left hurriedly 

 to take up his duties in connection with the Afghan expedition of 

 1880, At this time he had only collected such plants as seemed 

 new to him, but in 1885 he became involved in much more earnest 

 work. That summer the Simla Naturalists' Society was founded, 

 and Collett was an original member. He collected assiduously 

 in the neighbourhood, and his herbarium thus formed afterwards 

 served as the base for his main botanical work, and was later 

 given by his family to the Eoyal Gardens, Kew. His first printed 

 botanic paper came out in the defunct Journal of the Society just 

 mentioned. 



Collett had command of a brigade in Burma in 1887-88, and he 

 found new ground to explore botanically in the Southern Shan 

 States. Here he made a good collection, which was worked out 

 jointly bj' Mr. "W. B. Hemsley and himself, the results being 

 published in our Journal (Botany), vol. xxviii. (1890) pp. 1-150, 

 pis. 1-22, in which 725 species of phanerogams were enumerated. 

 From this region he also introduced into cultivation two very 

 striking plants — Rosa gigantea, the largest single-flowered rose 

 known, the flowers being from 5 to 6 inches across ; and Lonicera 

 Bildehrcnidiana, an equally gigantic honeysuckle, the tube of the 

 flower sometimes attaining the length of 7 inches. He also suc- 

 ceeded in introducing two remarkable orchids into cultivation, 

 Bidhojjhyllii^in racemosum and Cirrhopetcdum CoUetiii. In the same 

 memoir the genus KeocoUetia was established by Mr. Hemsley to 

 commemorate the collector. All these are figured in the paper 

 above cited. 



For the next few years Collett was very much occupied with 

 professional matters. In 1891 he commanded the punitive expe- 

 dition to Manipur and acted as Chief Commissioner of Assam, 

 holding the local and temporary rank of Major-General, resuming 

 his regimental rank on the completion of his task. Shortly before 

 his retirement from the Army in 1893 he was made K.CB. ; but 

 though higher advancement was then within his reach, he decided 

 to retire, one strong reason being his increasing deafness. 



After his final return to England, about 1895, he began his 

 first draft of the projected Flora of Simla. Gradually he shaped 



