331 



serve this original manuscript as it is; it had best be 

 printed from this present copy, which must then be 

 preserved in the archives of our Linnaean Society. 



J. E. Smith. 



Mr. Roscoe to Sir J. E. Smith. 



My dear Friend, Allerton, October 5, 1806. 



By an omission of the bookseller's it was not till 

 yesterday that I got a sight of the Exotic Botany for 

 September, and had the pleasure of seeing the fine 

 plant figured, to which you have done me the great 

 and unmerited honour of annexing my name. 



I have accurately examined your delineation and 

 description, and certainly think it a good genus. It 

 is most nearly allied to Hedychium ; and if, accord- 

 ing to the system which I have attempted to lay 

 down, I cannot admit that the irregularity of the 

 exterior limb of the corolla affords a genuine distinc- 

 tion, yet the very singularly curved anthera, with its 

 two appendages, is amply sufficient to establish it as 

 a genus ; which the irregularity of the corolla may 

 be allowed to confirm. To Kampferia its affinity is 

 merely in its exterior appearance ; in its botanical 

 characters it is wholly distinct. I therefore flatter 

 myself that this nymph of the Asiatic mountains 

 will, like a faithful spouse, retain the name which 

 you have imposed upon her ; and not, like too 

 many of her sisterhood, elope to some more fa- 

 voured admirer. 



W. Roscoe. 



