420 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



or all of the others ; and that of the 650 species mentioned 

 in Dickie's " Flora " as belonging to Aberdeen, Banff, and 

 Kincardine, he wanted only a few specimens. A large 

 number in his herbarium were utterly destroyed by moths 

 and other agents, and others were so deteriorated that they 

 were useless for preservation. After careful selection, as 

 presented to the University, the collection contains some 

 750 species, divided as follows : 



1. A general collection of about 500 species, arranged 

 according to the twenty-four classes of Linnaeus, including 

 ferns, in various books. 



2. A book containing an almost complete collection of 

 species, about 150, representing the flora of the Vale of 

 Alford, many being rare. 



3. A book of about 50 specimens of the grasses of the 

 Alford district. 



4. A book of about 50 specimens of the cryptogamic 

 plants of the same district, chiefly mosses and lichens. 



The first (i) was from his general collection, gradually 

 decimated, by more than forty years' keeping in many 

 cases, though added to as years rolled on. The two next 

 were those shown at the Alford Horticultural Show in 

 1871. The fourth (4) was the collection he made the follow- 

 ing year, which was then all named, but which he did not 

 present for competition. 



The dates of the specimens range from about 1836 or 

 1837, when he began Systematic Botany, till 1871. The 

 books containing the general collection are formed chiefly 

 of coarse grey or brown paper, parts of newspapers and 

 blotting paper, all stitched in home-made covers, which 

 are formed generally of sheets of paper pasted together. 



