NO. I COLLECTIONS OF LOBB IN COLOMBIA — KILLIP 3 



The remainder of this account deals with Lobb's travels in the 

 western United States between 1849 and the time of his death in 

 San Francisco in 1857. 



It will be seen that no mention is made here of his travels in the 

 Andes north of Chile. From statements in the accounts of the plants 

 received by the Veitch firm from Lobb from Peru and northward in 

 the Andes, as well as from references to Lobb's collections in Curtis's 

 Botanical Magazine and similar publications, it appears that this part 

 of Lobb's explorations was made between 1842 and 1843. 



No letters written by Lobb while in South America are extant 

 apparently. The firm of James Veitch and Sons having been discon- 

 tinued, Mr. Skan kindly sought information from a former employee 

 of the firm, who replied, 



Apparently Lobb's letters were available when Adolphus Kent compiled 

 Veitch's Manual of Coniferae, but they were not with the firm in my time. 

 The only letters relating to Lobb which I saw were copies of the letters sent 

 by the firm to Lobb. These were in a private letter book and were no doubt 

 destroyed when the firm was wound up. 



In Lobb's time letters were few and far between and I have always understood 

 that the Lobbs said and wrote little about either their finds or their travels. 



Two letters in the Kew Library ' bear upon Lobb's travels : 



Ed. Michel to W. Jameson. 

 Guayaquil, Nov. 15, 1843. 

 Mr. Lobb arrived here from Panama on the 28th ult. and embarked same day 

 on board of the steamer Peru for Callao.— 7 boxes of plants to which Mr. Veitch 

 refers were left by Mr. Lobb at the English Consul House at Puna [a settlement 

 on an island in Guayaquil Bay] and were never forwarded to Panama. Mr. Lobb 

 wrote from Guayaquil to Mr. Veitch explaining the occurrence and his letter 

 will no doubt be a satisfactory reply to all Mr. V. inquiries. The boxes Mr. Lobb 

 left on his first arrival in this country and on examination when he was last 

 here he found, I believe, that the plants were in an unfit state to be sent forward 

 and they were thrown away as useless. 



Seeman's letter of July 28, 1847, from Paita. 



Mr. Lobb speaks to me of Loxa and Cuenca in most extravagant terms— 

 of all the parts of the interior he has visited he considers them the most beautiful 

 and calls them the " Garden of South America." 



Lobb probably made herbarium specimens of most of the plants 

 represented in the material sent to Europe for horticultural purposes, 

 though apparently some of them were lost. He does not appear to 

 have made more than a single specimen of each, and these^are depos- 

 ited at Kew, the inscriptions on the sheets invariably being " Columbia, 

 Lobb," " Peru, Lobb," and the like. 



* Hooker Corresp. vol. 19: no. 219, at Kew. 



