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Austrian Botanical Expedition to Southwest China. — The 



last of the preliminary reports of the Austrian Expedition to 

 Southwest China, conducted by Camillo Schneider and Dr. 11. 

 Handel-Mazzetti, having come to hand, we are now able to give 

 a short account of this enterprise which promises to add much 

 to our knowledge of ;in area which has already yielded so many 

 botanical treasures, thanks to the enthusiasm of the FtjSBJph 

 Missionary Delavay and the untiring energy of George Forrest . 

 The expedition was undertaken on behalf of the Dendrologieal 

 Society, with the support of the Academy of Sciences of Vienna. 

 It started from Tunnanfu in March, 1914, and had the mountain 

 ranges of the Upper Yangtsekiang basin between 27° and 30° X. 

 Lat. as its principal object, a plan which, however, was subse- 

 quently considerably modified. The ground covered by the work 

 of 1914 may be briefly indicated by the following localities which 

 can be traced in any large Atlas — Hweili-chou, Ningyanfu, Ten- 

 yuanhsien, Kwapi (28° N. Lat. ; all these in the Yalung basin 

 in Southern Szechuan), Yungning, Siachungtien, Likiang 

 North East Yunnan). In Julv Schneider left for Talifu and 

 eventually went to America, whilst Handel-Mazzetti continued 

 the work for the next five years. He visited the southern corner 

 of Szechuan a second time in the autumn of 1914. The early 

 spring of 1915 saw him at Mengtze, Henry's collecting ground, 

 and at Manhao on the Red River (South Yunnan). Then having 

 returned to Yunnanfu he went over the Yunnan plateau to 

 Likiang, Tschungtien, TTeih-si,. and crossed the Mekong near 



Tseku for the Doker-La to take up and supplement Forrest's 

 work in that region. He finally penetrated as far as the water- 

 shed between the Salween and the Kiu-kiang% the easternmost 

 feeder of the Irawaddi. Having spent the winter 1915-16 at 

 Yunnanfu he went once more via Likiang to the Chinese portion 

 of the upper Salween basin which he explored up to its western 

 and northern boundaries. After another winter at Yunnanfu 

 Handel-Mazzetti decided on a traverse of Eweichow and Hunan 

 through botanically unexplored country. His route lay over 

 Kweiyang, Tuyunfu, Xuchow and Lipingfu (Southeastern 

 Kweichow), then Tsingchow, TTukaiiLi how, Sinning, Yungchow, 

 Hangchow to Changsha (all these in Hunan), where he spent the 

 winter 1917-18. The following summer was devoted to the 

 exploration of Central Southwest Hunan. The final preparation 

 of his extensive collections occupied the winter 1918-19, and the 

 early spring of the present year, Handel-Mazzetti leaving Chang- 

 sha on the 25th March. 



Handel-Mazzetti has travelled before in Kurdistan and 

 Northern Mesopotamia, and won a reputation as botanical 

 explorer and geographer. As he is moreover an experienced 

 mountaineer and an excellent photographer, we may look forward 

 to a rich harvest in botany and geography. A preliminary 

 account of the floral zones and plant-formations of Yunmm and 

 Southwest Szechuan was published in the Akademischer 

 Anzeiger of the Vienna Academy for 6th July, 1916 (Xo. 18), 

 and 22nd Xovember, 1917 (No. 24), whilst a preliminary report 

 on the vegetation of Kweichou and Hunan is in the press. The 

 first deals with (A) the tropical region, studied by him in the 



