18 



unless more assistance is rendered by Government, 

 to keep the Gardens in a condition calculated to 

 reflect any credit either on their immediate man- 

 agement or on the colony at large. 



" The plants introduced during the year have 

 been greater in number and of more intrinsic 

 value than for some years past. About 500 have 

 been added to the collection. From the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, a case containing Himalayan Rho- 

 dodendrons was received in good condition ; and 

 from Messrs. A. Verschaifelt and A. Van Geart, 

 cases containing Himalayan and hybrid Rhodo- 

 dendrons, pictorial trees, deciduous Magnolias, 

 Lilies, and numerous other plants have been 

 received. 



" The number of Visitors to the gardens is esti- 

 mated at 48,00-1, being an increase of nearly 

 10,000 over that of last year. 



'•'' 3Iuseum. — Six new show cases lor shells, etc., 

 havebeen constructed, and as Mr. Legrand has com- 

 menced the arrangement of the Tasmanian speci- 

 mens, we hope in a very short time to have all the 

 collection properly displayed. Mr. R. C. Gunn, in 

 the early part of the year presented, in a most 

 liberal spirit, the entire of his immense herbarium 

 to the museum. As the collection had become 

 much disarranged, and as many of the plants and 

 much of the 2:>aper were quite destroyed, it was 

 found necessary to re-name and re-paper the 

 whole. This formidable task was most kindly 

 undertaken by the Rev. W. W. Spicer and J. R. 

 Scott, Esq., whose services in this matter it is diffi- 

 cult to over-rate, and who are therefore well en- 

 titled to the best thanks of the Society. Their 

 task will still probably require several months for 

 completion. 



" Among the donations deserving special men- 

 tion may be enumerated a collection of type speci- 



