70 
Sydney ; Forestry Department, University of Aberdeen ; Museum, 
Forest of Dean, &c. : 
As in previous years much of the time of the Museum Staff has 
necessarily been devoted to.dealing with the increasing number of 
products received from commercial firms, colonial correspondents 
and others, for determination and for general information as to 
their properties and uses. 
e rearrangement of specimens rendered necessary owing to the 
formation of a collection to illustrate British Forestry, and the 
alterations called for in connection with the reception of the Taito- 
kuin Shrine [Kew Bull. 1910, p. 396], have delayed the issue of a 
new edition of the Guide to the Timber Collection. 
much needed work was commenced in Museum No. I. where a 
third of the number of cases have been re-polished. 
Individual members of the Staff attended the Tropical Products 
Congress at Brussels, the Meeting of the Museums Association at 
York, and the Annual Excursion of the Royal Scottish Arbori- 
cultural Society to the Fort William District of Scotland. 
Presentations from the Japan-British Exhibition —In the dispersal 
of the large collections of Vegetable Products exhibited in the 
Japanese section of the Japan-British Exhibition held at Shepherd’s 
Bush last year, the Commissioners in charge of the several sections 
have liberally presented much valuable and interesting material to 
the Museums of the Royal Botanic Gardens. 
This when carefully selected and arranged in the Museums will 
go far to form complete representative series of the varied products 
of Japan, Formosa, Corea and Manchuria. 
Special mention must be made of the Japanese Agricultural 
Section, presented in its entirety to the Board of Agriculture and 
Fisheries and transferred by the Board to Kew. From this col- 
lection, which includes food products, fruits preserved in fluid, 
fibres, matting materials, straw and straw-plaits, specimens illus- 
trating plant diseases, &c., a large selection must necessarily be 
retained. . 
_ From the Forestry Section the bulk of the material asked 
for was obtained, including sections from a_ series of timber 
specimens cut to show the radial and tangential surfaces; a col- 
lection of bamboos ; samples of several forms of edible fungi 
including “ Shitake” or Jew’s Ear fungus (Hirneola polytricha) 
argely consumed as food in China and Japan, together with illus- 
trations showing its cultivation on tree trunks in Japan ; specimens 
of the wood and shavings of Cupressus obtusa with examples of 
fabrics and other articles made from the shavings; wood and 
shavings of Acanthopanax sciadophylloides applied to uses similar 
to those of the above mentioned; berries of the Haze tree 
_(Rhus succedanea) and wax obtained from the berries; tapped stems 
of the Lacquer tree (Rhus vernicifera), and a photograph to illustrate 
the method employed in tapping the stems for the collection of 
Lacquer ; galls formed on Rhus semialata, together with a coloured 
drawmg of the same. Other valuable material was obtained from 
this Section, including a collection of Forest tree seeds from the 
Japan Seed and Plant Company. 
