2 Bailey, Herbarimn of British and Foreign Plants. 



Manchester, it was needless for both to continue acquiring the 

 same sets of plants; from that time, now many years ago, we 

 resolved to work on different lines. 



Dr. Melvill's herbarium contained large numbers of type 

 specimens of well-known botanists, collected in all parts of the 

 world, of which details were given in " A Brief Account of the 

 General Herbarium formed by James Cosmo Melvill, 1867- 

 1904," upon the occasion of its presentation to the Victoria 

 University, Manchester, on the 31st October, 1904. It also 

 containeci an extensive collection of British plants, many of 

 which came from the same sources as my British herbarium. 

 Dr. Melvill, therefore, decided that the British portion of his 

 herbarium should go to Harrow School, on the understanding 

 that my British plants would find their resting place in the 

 Victoria University. 



As the other portion of Dr. Melvill's herbarium contained 

 large collections from all parts of the world, while mine was 

 mainly confined to the plants of European and Mediterranean 

 countries, we resolved that any subsequent additions to our 

 respective herbaria should be in the following directions: — 

 That my additions should be confined to plants from Great 

 Britain and Ireland, from the European Continent, and from 

 the African countries bordering upon the Mediterranean ; while 

 Dr. Melvill's additions should be restricted to plants from all 

 countries other than European and North African. This course 

 would obviate much overlapping, and increase the value of the 

 two collections when they became united. 



In my own herbarium the method of housing the speci- 

 mens has been to adopt a uniform size of sheet, measuring 

 i/i X 11^ inches. The sheets are enclosed in boxes with wooden 

 frames and pasteboard lids; the boxes measure, externally, 

 18 X 12 inches, and the lids are made as deep as the boxes. 

 The boxes stand on shelves 13 inches above each other, and are 

 enclosed in cupboards 10 feet in height; a separate room 

 attached to the house at Haymesgarth, Cleeve Hill, and measur- 

 ing 42 feet by 25 feet, has been built to accommodate the her- 

 barium. The cupboards stand seven inches from the walls, to 

 admit a set of hot-water pipes, which runs, round the room ; a 

 space of a quarter of an inch being left free from the floor, to 

 admit a constant current of air between the walls and the 

 cases. Only a small portion of the herbarium has been 

 mounted, but ;£'500 has been offered to the University 

 towards the cost of mounting the plants comprised in this 

 herbarium. Every six or eight years the growth of the her- 

 barium has necessitated the renumbering of the boxes, to pro- 

 vide for the additional material which had accumulated in the 

 interval ; the revision which it is now receiving (on the com- 

 pletion of my 78th year) will be the last before it reaches its 

 final destination. 



The herbarium has been in the course of formation since 



