1854.] Linnean Society. 3i5 



tions of Plants more recently discovered," which greatly enhanced 

 the value of the work. In the mean time Dr. Wallich had been 

 deputed in 1820 on a botanical excursion to Nepaul, which lasted 

 till the beginning of 1822, and in the course of which he made very 

 extensive collections of plants, a large proportion of which were 

 entirely new, and sets of which were immediately transmitted with 

 great liberality to several of the principal herbaria in London and 

 elsewhere. A severe fever, caught on his descent to the plains, 

 which he had in vain endeavoured to root out by a cruise at the head 

 of the Bay of Bengal, confined him to his bed for two months, and 

 compelled him to seek benefit from a voyage to Penang, Singapore, 

 and some other places in the Straits of Malacca, from which, after 

 an absence of five months, he returned on the last day of the year 

 1822, with renovated health and rich botanical collections. In 1824 

 he commenced the publication of a selection from his Nepaul collec- 

 tions, under the title of " Tentamen Florae Napalensis lUustratae," of 

 which two numbers, each consisting of 25 plates, were issued. These 

 plates were the botanical firstfruits of the new art of lithography 

 in India, and both drawings and lithographs were executed by 

 native artists under Dr. Wallich's superintendence. In the following 

 year he was deputed by the Government to inspect the timber forests 

 of the Western Provinces, and availed himself of this favourable 

 opportunity to examine and collect the plants of the kingdom of 

 Oude, the province of Rohilcund, the valley of Deyra, &c. ; and in 

 the two succeedings years. 1826 and 1827, he accompanied a mission 

 from the Indian Government to the Court of Ava, visited the moun- 

 tains in the neighbourhood of that capital, and proceeded afterwards 

 to the newly- acquired territories on the coasts of Martaban and 

 Tenasserim, in all of which he made most extensive collections. 

 Such were the principal excursions in which Dr. Wallich was him- 

 self personally engaged up to the close of the year 1827 ; but the 

 resources liberally placed at his command by the Government 

 enabled him still further to increase the immense stores which he 

 had thus accumulated. More than three hundred persons were 

 employed in the Botanic Garden itself, and collectors connected 

 with it were stationed in various parts of India, such as Sylhet, 

 Nepaul, Kamaon, Penang, &c. The zeal and liberality of many 

 private individuals also contributed much to its enrichment; inso- 

 much that the number of indigenous plants (as well as "those of 

 foreign origin) in the Garden was largely increased, and the her- 

 barium was ultimately extended to upwards of 8000 species. From 

 this collection specimens were frequently transmitted to the prin- 



