9 



H. N. Ridley, the director, very kindly placed the facilities of the institu- 

 tion at my disposal. As a result of this visit a large package of authen- 

 tically named botanical material was received and arrangements were 

 made for future exchange of botanical specimens. 



II. PLANT/E AHERNIAN/E. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The material upon which the present paper is based has been secured 

 by the various field parties of the Forestry Bureau during the year 1901, 

 and up to June, 1902. Realizing that little accurate work could be done 

 on the many forestry problems presented in the Archipelago without first 

 accurately identifying the component species of the forest flora, Capt. 

 George P. Ahern, Chief of the Bureau, made an attempt to secure all the 

 botanical material possible through his field parties, and, considering the 

 conditions under which the work was done, met with considerable success. 

 While it is unfortunate that the material could not have been collected 

 under the direction of a trained botanist and properly cared for by such 

 a person, still there is much of value in the collection, both from a scien- 

 tific and an economic standpoint, as it forms the basis of our Philippine 

 Herbarium, and enables us to accurately identify much of the material 

 in the timber-testing laboratory of the Forestry Bureau. 



The material considered in this paper, collected under the direction of 

 Captain Ahern, has been credited to him, and the title of the present 

 paper is derived from the name of the man who, although not a botanist, 

 recognizes the pressing need and great value of thorough botanical work 

 on the forest flora of this Archipelago. 



Upon my appointment in the Bureau of Forestry in August, 1902, 

 work was at once commenced arranging these specimens, completing the 

 labels, etc. Difficulty was experienced, due to the fact that a large part 

 of the material was without data other than the place of collection, and 

 sometimes even this was wanting. Many of the packages had not been 

 worked over, and as none of the specimens had been poisoned, much of 

 the material was entirely destroyed by insects, while in other cases speci- 

 mens that had not been properly dried had been rendered worthless by 

 moisture. Much of the material was collected by persons who had little 

 or no botanical training, and hence did not understand the necessity of 

 securing complete botanical specimens. Accordingly, very few of the 

 numbers cited in the following enumeration represent complete speci- 

 mens, and for this reason it has been impossible to accurately determine 

 much of the material. Many specimens consisted only of leaves, with no 

 flowers or fruit, and such specimens, unless the material was especially 

 characteristic or had the native name attached, were destroyed, the greater 

 part of it being quite worthless for purposes of identification. 



