316 lAnnean Society. [May 24, 



cipal herbaria in Europe, and many of the more important novelties 

 were published in various works. Dr. Wallich's health had now, 

 however, become so much impaired by repeated attacks of illness 

 that it was deemed indispensable that he should visit Europe for his 

 recovery; and he arrived in England in the year 1828 with the 

 great bulk of his collections. Here, instead of converting his leave 

 of absence into a period of leisure, he immediately obtained per- 

 mission of the Directors of the East India Company to proceed to 

 the distribution of his duplicate specimens, together with those of 

 the other herbaria of Continental India in their possession ; and after 

 these duplicates had been most liberally distributed among all the 

 great public establishments and principal private herbaria through- 

 out the world, the type-collection, containing a complete series of 

 all the species, was munificently presented by the Court of Directors, 

 on the recommendation of Dr. Wallich, to the Linnean Society, of 

 whose museum it forms a most valuable and important part. During 

 the period of this laborious and absorbing occupation, Dr. Wallich 

 also found time to commence and bring to a conclusion his ' Plantae 

 Asiaticse Rariores,' Lond. 1830-2, 3 vols. foHo, consisting of no less 

 than 300 beautifully executed coloured plates, selected chiefly from 

 a collection of 1200 drawings, made by native artists, and rendered 

 peculiarly valuable by carefully executed details and by accurate 

 and elaborate descriptions. In these respects it is well worthy to 

 rank with his predecessor Dr. Roxburgh's ' Plants of the Coast of 

 Coromandel,' and the two together form a most magnificent con- 

 tribution to botanical science. 



In 1833, Dr. Wallich returned to India and resumed the charge 

 of the Botanic Garden, which he continued to enrich both with 

 native and exotic plants, and to render eminently useful by the 

 transmission of Indian species to the gardens of Europe. From a 

 Report presented to the Government of Bengal, and quoted by Dr. 

 Joseph Hooker, it appears that between January 1836 and Decem- 

 ber 1840, that is to say in the space of five years, 189,932 plants 

 were distributed from it to nearly 2000 different gardens. Soon 

 after his resumption of his official duties. Dr. Wallich was placed 

 at the head of a scientific mission, the chief object of which was to 

 examine and report on the nature of the cultivation of the Tea-plant 

 in the newly conquered province of Assam, which the members of 

 the Commission thoroughly explored in every direction, bringing 

 with them on their return large collections in every department 

 of natural history. In 1843, his health again failing, it became 

 necessary to seek a milder climate, and he visited the Cape of Good 



