262 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
19.—REMARKS ON THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM OF 
VICTORIA. 
By G. Lurenmann, F.L.S. 
2C.-—NOTES ON THE BOTANY OF PITCAIRN ISLAND. 
By J. H. Maipen, Director of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
Prrcearrn Istanp was discovered on Thursday, the 2nd July, 
1767, during Captain Carteret’s voyage round the world. He 
says :—‘ It is so high that we saw it at a distance of more than 
15 leagues, and it having been discovered by a young gentleman, 
son to Major Pitcairn, of the Marines, who was, unfortunately, 
lost in the ‘ Aurora, we called it Pitcairn’s Island” (Hawkes- 
worth’s Voyages, 3rd Edition, 1785, ii., 52). Captain Carteret 
did. not land owing to the violent surf, and materials for a de- 
scription of its vegetation were not available until Captain 
3eechey’s visit in H.M.S. “ Blossom” in 1826. 
Cook imagined that the Island of Pitcairn, discovered by Car- 
teret, is the Island of St. Juan Baptista of Quiros, but La 
Perouse is not of that opinion, and states his reasons. “A 
voyage round the world . . . wunderthe command of J. F. G. 
de la Pérouse,” published under the superintendence of Milet- 
Mureau (Eng. Edn.; ‘1799, i., p. 77). 
Pitcairn is situated in Lat. 25 deg. 4 min. 8. and Lone. 130 
deg. 16 min. W., to the south-east of the Society Islands (of which 
Tahiti is the most important). It forms part of the Low Archi- 
pelago or Paumotu Group, which also includes the Gambier Is- 
lands, Elizabeth Island and Easter Island, on which last are the 
remarkable colossal statues. 
The greater portion of the crew of H.M.S. “ Bounty” (Capt. 
William Bligh, afterwards Governor of New Sanit W ales) having 
mutinied, Fletcher Christian, the master’s mate, set out with the 
