352 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



qui in ultimo itinere Cookii plurimas novas species plantarum 

 Idetexit " ; and Smith (in Eees Cyclop.) styles him " an excel- 

 lent gardener and good practical botanist, who was sent out with 

 Captain Cook in his last voyage, and discovered many new plants, 

 for which we have in several places had occasion to mention him." 

 J. A. Murray (in Comm. Eef. Scient. Gotting. vi, 30, 1785) 

 describes and figures Bh2cs semialatum, which be raised in the 

 Goettingen garden from seeds collected by Nelson in Macao that 

 had been sent him by Banks ; the description is preceded by a 

 long note from which it appears that Nelson collected seeds at 

 all the places where the ship stopped, and that over two hundred 

 of these w^ere sent by Banks to Goettingen. There are also in the 

 Herbarium specimens collected by Nelson at the Cape on the 

 outward voyage (1777) ; these were doubtless obtained on the 

 w^alks he took with William Anderson, whom he joined at the 

 Cape (see p. 346). 



Nelson's position in connection with the voyage of the Bomity 

 has already been stated ; as is generally known, it was terminated 

 by his death on the island of Timor. It may be worth 

 while to reprint from Bligh's Voyage to the South Seas (pp. 239, 

 240) the passages which relate to him. On arriving at Coupang 

 in 1779, Bligh writes that he had obtained permission for Nelson 

 " to walk about the country in search of plants " : this was readily 

 granted, but "from this indulgence I derived no benefit; for 

 Nelson, who since we left New Holland had been but in a weak 

 condition, about this time was taken ill, in consequence of a cold 

 caused by imprudently leaving off warm clothing." ... On 

 the 20th of July, I had the misfortune to lose Mr. David Nelson ; he 

 died of inflammatory fever. The loss of this honest man I very 

 much lamented : he had, with great care and diligence, attended 

 to the object for which he was sent, and had always been ready 

 to forward every plan that was proposed for the good of the service 

 in which we were engaged. He was not less useful on our voyage 

 hither, in the course of which he gave me great satisfaction by 

 the patience and fortitude with which he conducted himself." A 

 description follows of his funeral, which took place next day and 

 was attended by the crew and representatives of the town. 



MISCELLANEA BEYOLOGICA.— V. 

 By H. N. Dixon, M.A., F.L.S. 



(Continued from Journ. Bot. 1915, p. 23.) 

 Aerobryum lanosum Mitt. 



Mitten in Muse. Ind. Or. (Journ. Linn. Soc. 1859, Suppl. p. 90) 

 described a Sikkim moss (J. D. Hooker, No. 884) as Meteorium 



* The statement in Kew Bull. (1891, p. 297) that he " died from the long 

 exposure" consequent on his being " set adrift by the mutinous crew " would 

 thus seem to be inaccurate. 



