"JOHN EOXBURGH 33 



Roxburgh at the Cape came to an end. When John returned to 

 India from South Africa is not detinitely known ; after his return he 

 was employed under his father in the Calcutta Botanic Garden. As 

 his missionary guardian explained in 1793, John's genius was " but 

 of the middle sort." This may account, at least in part, for his 

 a]>pointment to a subordinate executive post. It may also explain 

 why, in the Flora Inclica, there is but one reference, and that a 

 reference which might easily be overlooked, to his work as a collector. 

 The passage in question {Flora Indica, vol. ii. p. 169) informs us 

 that Tacca aspera was " found by Mr. J. R. indigenous in the vallies 

 amongst the hill behind Chittagong." But his activity as a collector 

 during the years 1810 and 1831 w^as very marked and, as the Editor 

 has pointed out, the Hortus Bengalensis records the introduction by 

 him of many plants from Chittagong. For 1810 we find such records 

 on twent3^-five pages of the Hortus for Chittagong alone, and an 

 examination of the entries suggests that on his way to Chittagong 

 he collected in the Sundribuns ; that while in Chittagong he gave 

 especial attention to orchids ; that on his way back from Chittagong 

 he was able to reach Silhet. In 1811 he was again active, though 

 for this year his records occur only on about half as many pages of 

 the Hortus. 



When Roxburgh, broken in health, left India for the last time in 

 March 1813, John Roxburgh was Overseer of the Botanic Garden. 

 He held this post during the various changes in the superintendent- 

 ship w^hich marked the period betw^een March 1813 and August 1817. 

 Not long after Dr. Wallich's definite appointment as Superintendent 

 took place in 1817, incompatibility of temper led to differences be- 

 tween the new administrative and the old executive head of the 

 establishment. John Roxburgh thereupon ceased to be a member 

 of the staff. Whither he moved or when he died we do not know. 



While none of the sons of Dr. Roxburgh by his second wife can 

 be claimed as botanists there is an indication that the eldest of this 

 family, George Roxburgh, might have developed into a collector had 

 he not, as the Bonham-Carter " family- table " explains, been "killed 

 by lightning in Java." We know, from the Flora Indica (vol. iii. 

 p. 380), that his father was indebted to George for specimens of at 

 least one species from Hardwar. Two other sons of the same family, 

 Bruce Roxburgh and James Roxburgh, though in no sense botanists, 

 have claims to the gratitude of botanical students which it is not easy 

 to repay. To their filial piety w^e owe the publication in 1832 of their 

 father's Flora Indica, and on this account readers of the Journal 

 may be interested to know the outlines of their careers, for the par- 

 ticulars of which the writer is indebted to the kindness of his friend 

 Mr. W. Foster, CLE., of the India Ofiice. 



Bruce Roxburgh, according to the various family-tables the third 

 son and fourth child of Dr. William Roxburgh by his second wife, is 

 recorded officially as having been born at Calcutta on 12 December, 

 1797. It seems possible, however, that in this instance the date 

 recorded is that of baptism, not that of birth, for among the letters 

 addressed to Roxburgh by Buchanan is one, written on 4 September, 



