BOTANICAL EXPLORATIONS OF MR. SPRUCE. 201 
to Ambato, which for more than two years was his point of departure for ex- 
d 
or con Bark me for — in India—a task EF was conñded to him 
subject in any apean and has been invaluable as a guide to the a 
of these precious plants in in India. It covers a hundred and twelve printed 
rward 
a 
botanist may be said to have closed with the picking up of a few plants in that 
neighbourhood during the year 1861, and during 1862 at Gack: on the 
coast, near Punta Santa Elena, where an exceptional rainy season, coming 
teresting collection of the ephemeral plants which, under the influence of the 
= sprang up on the desert, and also of several curious trees and shrubs, 
hose blackened stems had not for some years past put forth even a leaf. 
d to be in many cases of great value: Several new species 
may be instanced, and one entirely new genus, of trees producing the best 
kind of caoutchouc, which is now extracted from them in large quantities, but 
ns not until Mr. Spruce pointed the trees out on the Rio Negro and elsewhere. 
is specimens of all these plants are preserved in the principal public and 
aims collections, and are therefore perfectly accessible for the purposes of 
science. A very large or ae of Seer eee perhaps the largest 
ever made by any single collector—still remains to be ked up. Mr. Spruce’s 
manuscripts contain, besides otis on all the plants eclibetod, vocabularies of 
twenty-one native languages of the Amazon valley, meteorological observations, 
barometric iaig etc., throughout the regions visited, maps of three rivers 
re 
n 
capabilities of the various countries, of the customs, food, t 
ture of their inhabitants, etc 
