NO. I COLLECTIONS OF LOBB IN COLOMBIA KILLIP 



Presumably these specimens are in the Kew herbarium, but unfor- 

 tunately I have had no opportunity of examining them and ascertaining 

 whether they represent characteristic Colombian species or Peruvian 

 ones not otherwise known to occur in Colombia. However, from 

 Mr. Smith's examination of the Thibaudieae, it appears that all of 

 these may well have come from southern Colombia ; certainly there is 

 no indication of a Peruvian origin. 



The localities on this list are mainly in the extreme southwestern 

 part of Colombia, and are all in the present Department of Narino, 

 formed from portions of the earlier provinces of Popayan and Pasto. 

 Barbacosa is doubtless the city of Barbacoas, on the Patia River near 

 the coast, at an elevation of about 100 feet. Pasto, the capital of 

 Narino, is situated in the mountains on the main route of travel from 

 Quito to Popayan. Guachucal is a town about 50 miles southwest of 

 Pasto, and is one of the localities at which Humboldt collected. 

 Pilispi I have not been able to find on any map or in any gazetteer 

 of Colombia, Ecuador, or Peru. The insertion of the words 

 *' P. Popayan " in the first orchid entry is clearly a clerical error, 

 as elsewhere on the list " Molletura, Prov. Cuenca," [Ecuador] 

 appears. 



From this it seems evident that Lobb did visit the southwestern 

 part of Colombia, perhaps by going overland from Quito to Pasto, 

 descending to Barbacoas, and boarding a ship at the port of Tumaco, 

 or perhaps by stopping ofi at Tumaco and making a hurried trip to 

 Pasto and return. I am confident that the plants he collected will all 

 prove to be characteristic Colombian or northern Ecuadorean species, 

 most of them probably represented in the subsequent collections of 

 Andre and Lehmann, and that one need not expect to find in this 

 region the characteristic Peruvian, or even southern Ecuadorean, 

 species, as botanical literature would indicate. 



The political division of northwestern South America during the 

 past century may be briefly noted here. From 181 o to 1831 the pres- 



