THE MAUBITIUS HEEBAEIUM 11 



Their personal interest in his own science was stimulated 

 by many practical touches. Hooker buys a set of rare Samoan 

 ferns and sends them out that Sir Henry may have the refusal 

 of them ; sees about the naming of Eeunion ferns for Lady 

 Barkly, with the promise of examining one rare specimen 

 himself ; discusses a knotty point of nomenclature with her ; 

 sends cultural hints from Kew experience of growing the deli- 

 cate Hymenopliyllum group under bell glasses coloured green, 

 or in artificially arranged shade at Calcutta ; sends out books 

 that are wanted, and introduces an American botanist who 

 will correspond with him on ferns. 



More officially he busies himself to confirm the appointment 

 of a first-rate curator of the Mauritius Garden whom his father 

 had chosen, Dr. Meller, one of whose chief interests should be 

 to make known the rich vegetation of Madagascar. For Dr. 

 Meller he picks out rare books at sales, and helpfully adds : 

 ' Always ask me to do anything of this kind, as I can generally 

 hear of cheap copies.' 



Most important of the various transactions with Sir H. 

 Barkly was that a little before Sir William Hooker's death, the 

 Mauritius Herbarium had been sent to Kew for collation with 

 the collections there. 



In this connexion a couple of letters may be quoted. The 

 first touches on the idiosyncrasy of the assistant who had 

 been dealing with the ferns sent for identification. 



June 29, 1866. I quite understand what you observe 

 of his tendency to over-work it is inevitable with men 

 who, having long closely studied local Floras and sub- 

 divided them to the (very) root, are suddenly confronted by 

 large collections and extensive suites of specimens from 

 many localities ; a reaction sets in, and like all neophytes, 

 they are apt to be carried too far [when going from critical 

 analysis to careless or superficial synthesis, March 23, 1867]. 

 I am always fearful of assuming the position of scientific 

 mentor over my subordinates, at first especially, but shall 

 lose no opportunity of keeping him straight before he finds 

 his way for himself, which he is sure to do in time. . . . Any 

 hints you give me for him, or his nomenclature, will be 



