LIXNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 39 



entered a commercial career, living in Canton in 1858 and 1859 

 and afterwards in Shanghai. He took much interest in the 

 affairs of the Shanghai branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, whose 

 President he was in 1S74. It was then that he made the 

 acquaintance of jMr. Charles Ford — at that time Superintendent 

 of the Botanical Garden at Hong-Kong — which led to his taking 

 up collecting plants more seriously. His first collection was 

 determined during his stay in Europe in 1875 and 1876 by 

 W. B. Hemsley. Then followed a second residence in Shanghai, 

 \^ hich lasted from 1877 to 1882. During the live years from 1882 

 to 1886 he settled in England, applying himself to botanical work 

 at Kew and the British Museum. Subsequently he lived in Paris, 

 and finally he retired to Boston, Mass., where he died. 



The name of Francis Blackwell Forbes will always be associated 

 with the exploration of the Flora of China as the promoter of that 

 fundamental work, the " Enumeration of all the Plants known from 

 China Proper, Formosa, Hainan, Corea, &c.," published under the 

 joint names of F. B. Forbes and W. B. Hemsley in the ' Journal ' of 

 the Linnean Society, Botany (vols, xxiii., 1886-1888; xxvi., 1889- 

 1902 ; xxxvi., 1903-1905). The history of this work is given in 

 Bretschneider's ' History of European Botanical Discoveries in 

 China,' p. 722, and in the preface by Sir "W. Thiselton-Dyer to 

 vol. xxxvi. of the Journal of the Linnean Society. In this place 

 it will be sufficient to define the share which F. B. Forbes had in 

 the matter. Forbes had already during his first stay in England 

 conceived the idea of a catalogue of all the Chinese specimens 

 found in the herbaria at Kew and the British Museum, as a help 

 towards the botanical exploration of China. This catalogue, a 

 mere list of names, was drawn up by Mr. Hemsley in 1876, and 

 was intended to form the basis for a complete list of the plants 

 known from China after the model of Maximowicz's ' Index Florae 

 Pekinensis.' After his return from China in 1882, Forbes set to 

 work collecting material for this hst, when in December 1883, 

 Mr. (now Sir) W. Thiselton-Dyer made an appeal to the Govern- 

 ment Grant Committee of the Eoyal Society to the effect that a 

 committee be appointed to repoi't on our present knowledge of the 

 ' Flora of China,' stating at the same time that it was desirable to 

 catalogue the Chinese material in the National Herbaria after the 

 manner of the Botany of Godman and Salvin's ' Biologia Centrali - 

 Americana.' The application was acceded to, and a committee 

 appointed which was joined by Forbes in February 1884. He 

 most liberally placed at its disposal his very full slip reference 

 catalogue to records of Chinese plants, collection and notes. A.t 

 the same time Mr. Hemsley was engaged to co-operate in the 

 " Enumeration," which was to be published in the ' Journal ' of the 

 Linnean Society. Private engagements, however, prevented 

 Forbes from taking any further active part in the preparation of the 

 work, which in its execution must therefore be wholly credited to 



