gigantic plant exists in Black Eiver at " Baie du Cap, " 

 and covers, it is said, a surface of eight acres ; tliese seeds 

 come from St. Brandon, where they were found near 

 the beach. 



In his letter to your Secretary, Professor A. Decandolle 

 says : " The information you have given me on the E. 

 Pursaetha naturalised in Mauritius, and of which seeds 

 have been found at St. Brandon, one of the Cargados 

 Islands, has interested me much. There is no doubt that 

 this species has been carried by the currents on the same 

 way as the E. Gigantea by the gulf- stream. I am aware 

 that, according to the maps (Bergham's Atlas) the currents 

 from Java bear upon Madagascar and not Mauritius, but 

 floating bodies may occasionally be diverted from their 

 ordinary course by the force of the tempests. These 

 questions greatly interest me," 



"^ I should therefore feel much obliged if you would 

 communicate any information which you could procure 

 on the subject. I mean respecting the possible conveyance 

 of seeds, and more particularly when such conveyance has 

 actually taken place and been followed by results." 



We still witness the deep interest exhibited to us by 

 our former Governor Sir Henry Barkly, Honorary cor- 

 respondent of our Society. Writing from London on 23rd 

 November to your Secretary, he says that he intends, as 

 soon as he reaches the Cape of Good Hope, to make 

 up the list of Ferns and Lycopods, found in Mauritius 

 and of which he had brought numerous specimens with 

 him. 



This was a work of considerable attraction to Sir H. 

 Barkly and in which Lady Barkly took her part. The 

 specimens collected by them in Mauritius have been for- 

 warded to Kew, and the Cryptogamists may rely upon the 

 correctness of the names and of all the details which 



