408 
XLVII.—MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 
Wiuu1am Purpom.—We regret to learn, through Mr. C. H. 
Hough, of ewhincice, that Mr. W. Purdom died suddenly at Pekin 
on November 7th, 1921. He will long be remembered as one of 
the intrepid band of collectors, including Henry, Wilson, Forrest, 
Farrer and Meyer, who explored China in the interests of botany 
and horticulture during the early years of the twentieth century. 
He was born at Heversham, in Westmorland, April 10th, 1880, and 
after several years’ training at Brathay Hall Gardens, Messrs. 
Low & Sons, of Enfield, and Messrs. Veitch at Coombe Wood, 
came to Kew in August, 1902, leaving in December, 1908. He 
was then engaged by Messrs. Veitch and Harvard University as 
lant collector in China, chiefly in the province of Kansu. 
Subsequently he joined the late Mr. Reginald Farrer as travelling 
companion in the same reg gion. Their joint adventures are 
recorded in Mr. Farrer’s “Eaves of the World,” and ‘‘The 
Rainbow Bridge.” Mr. Farrer always wrote and spoke of Purdom 
in terms of admiration and affection, and he dedicated the first 
book to “my dear Bill ””—an “ absolutely perfect friend and 
** helper, through whom alone it was that these odysseys were 
*« made possible and pleasant.”’ In 1917 he was appointed to be 
head of one of the five Departments of Forestry maintained by 
the Chinese Government. During the last four years he has 
established nurseries in various parts of Honan in furtherance 
of large schemes of reafforestation in the north of China. He 
has also had much to do with the railways, and with the supply 
of timber from native sources. 
Index Kewensis, Supplement V.*—The appearance of the fifth 
supplement to the Index Kewensis continues that work to the 
end of the year 1915. Compared with the three preceding 
ajoingashnial supplements, the one just issued exhibits a consider- 
able increase in size, containing 277 pages as against 204, 193 
and 252 respectively in the second, third and fourth supplements. 
The geographical distribution of new species is now given in 
greater detail; in the case of new combinations only the synonym 
is given. It may be well to call attention to the fact that this 
supplement—like the last—is a register of names without 
any reductions, no opinion being expressed as to the validity 
of the genera and species contained in it. Numerous names 
accidentally omitted from previous supplements are included, 
and others are re-inserted in cases where the reference originally 
given was not the earliest. 
* Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum Supplementum 
Quintum nomina et synonyma omnium generum et specierum ab initio 
i C 
] rbarii Horti 
Regii Botanici Kewensis Curatores. Oxonii e prelo Clarendoniano 
MDCCCCXXI. 
