INTRODUCTION XI 



of fifteen months in the years 1687-89, and published the results 

 in his work on the Natural History of Jamaica (1707-25). 

 Sloane's Jamaican plants occupy Vols. I. to YIII. of the Sloane 

 Herbarium at the British Museum, and these volumes have 

 been carefully gone through in connection with our work on the 

 Orchids. The herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks, which became at 

 his death the foundation of the Department of Botany, included 

 collections from Jamaica by William Houstoun (1729-33), 

 William Wright (1771-85), Roger Shakespear (1780-2), and 

 Francis Masson (1781), and also a large number of specimens 

 from Olof Swartz (1784-6), including types of many of the new 

 species published in his " Prodromus " and elsewhere. Besides 

 these and the later collections at the British Museum we have 

 worked through the material in the Kew Herbarium, which 

 includes the collections of James Macfadyen (1825-50), W. 

 Purdie (1843, 4), Nathaniel Wilson (1846-58), R. C. Alexander 

 Prior (1849, 50), W. T. March (1857, 8), and others. 



We have to thank the Government of Jamaica for the loan 

 of the whole of the material contained in the Jamaican Herbarium, 

 the formation of which was begun by Sir Daniel Morris (1879-86) 

 and was continued by one of us (1887-1908) with the very 

 efficient help of Mr. William Harris as collector. In this 

 connection special reference should be made to Mr. Harris's 

 work as an indefatigable and successful plant-collector, to which 

 is owed a considerable increase in knowledge of the flora of 

 Jamaica. Our work has been greatly facilitated by the use of 

 a fine series of drawings made at the Hope Gardens, Jamaica, 

 from the living plants, under the supervision of one of us, by 

 Miss Helen A. Wood ; many of these have been reproduced in 

 the plates at the end of the volume, for the large number of 

 which we are grateful to the Trustees of the British Museum. 

 We have also to thank Dr. N. L. Britton, Director of the 

 New York Botanic Garden, for specimens and for the loan of a 

 collection of Orchids made in Jamaica by Sir D. Morris. A 

 number of private individuals resident in or visiting the Island 

 have also contributed specimens ; most of these are contained in 

 the Jamaican Herbarium. By the kindness of Dr. Radlkofer 

 of the Royal Botanical Museum, Munich, we have been able 

 to work through the Orchids collected by H. R. Wullschlaegel 

 (1847-9). As Wullschlaegel's specimens are cited by Grisebach 



