02 



FLORA INDICA. 



d. An immense collection of Ferns sent to Sir William 

 Hooker by 'Mr. Griffith. 



We believe that some of this lamented botanist's collec- 

 tions still remain in the vaults of the India House, but their 

 contents are unknown to us; perhaps they contain the Ira- 

 wadi collections, and those of Tenasserim and Martaban, which 

 are a great desideratum to science. 



Now that we are on the subject of Mr, Griffith's botanical 

 labours, we feel it incumbent upon us to record our sincere 

 regret at not being able to quote regularly the posthumously- 

 published drawings and observations of that indefatigable na- 

 turalist. It is well known that these manuscripts were not 

 left in a fit state for publication, and that to have edited them 

 properly, required a very able and careful botanist, well versed 

 in the Indian flora especially. It is a most unfortunate cir- 

 cumstance for the fame of Griffith, and the credit of all parties 

 concerned, that what has been published is not available for 

 the purposes of science. Even in the folio volume on the 

 Palms of British East India, the materials for which were 

 left in a tolerably perfect state, the errors of all kinds are so 

 numerous and involved, that it cannot be consulted without 

 the greatest caution j and, as we have said above, the speci- 

 mens distributed, whether by Mr. Griffith or the East India 

 Company, not bearing the numbers of his printed catalogue, 

 we have, in an overwhelming number of instances, no means 

 of identifying his plants with his notes of their locality, habit, 

 etc., except in the rare instances where the brief descriptions 

 contained in his * Itinerary Notes' enable us to do so. Our 

 own opinion of Mr. Griffith's exertions and botanical attain- 

 ments is, that he has never been surpassed in India; and we 

 wish all the more to give publicity to this opinion, because 

 the circumstances alluded to prevent that repeated acknowledg- 

 ment of the value of his writings, which would have appeared 

 every whan in our work, had his own been so edited as to 

 render this possible. We cannot conclude this notice of his 

 labours, without a regret that he was not spared, both to edit 



