112 Report of the Wiltshire Herbarium. 
incorporating with those at Devizes. When this is done the col- 
lection will consist of 1048 sheets, illustrating 598 species. There 
are still a few to be mounted and arranged, by which the collection 
will be further increased. 
The specimens are arranged on the sheets, and then sent to Kew, 
to be fastened down in the excellent manner adopted at the Royal 
Herbarium, where utility is a great point observed. In most cases, 
the specimens, after being fastened down, have been looked over by 
one of the authorities there, to detect any errors, and are then re- 
turned to me. Mr. Britten kindly undertook this task till he left 
Kew, and since then Mr. Baker has most generously given up the 
time necessary for this purpose and has most ane codes incurred 
the trouble of deciding critical points. 
Perhaps I may be permitted to make one remark in connection 
~ with the arrangement of the specimens on the sheets. The specimens 
are merely laid on the spots where they are intended to be fastened 
down, the locality being inserted where convenient. To prevent 
the shifting of the specimens during the journey to London, the 
sheets are packed tightly together, and the specimens thus sometimes 
become rather adherent to the under side of the sheet above them. 
Though every care is taken in separating the sheets on their arrival, 
the specimens do get shifted at times, and sometimes even transferred 
from their own proper sheet to another. The men who fasten them 
down, not being botanists, and being instructed to fasten the — 
specimens as they were placed on the papers, naturally put them 
down as they find them, and thus occasionally (especially among the 
more delicate specimens) some queer transitions may be detected. 
As opportunities occur these sheets will be replaced by others. 
The contributors to the collection have hitherto been few in num- 
ber. Dr. H. Franklin Parsons kindly sent contributions as long as 
he was resident in the county, and to him the Society is indebted 
for the majority of the plants from divisions II. and III. Mr. W. 
A. Clarke, of Chippenham, has also sent contributions from division 
II., and he alone, I am sorry to say is now the only regular con- 
tributor. Mr. Cunnington has also sent a few specimens from 
Devizes. With these exceptions, the collection has been formed by 

