PEACTICAL DIFFICULTIES 885 



and foresaw with regret that he must in the main stick to the 

 Flora of British India for an intelligible arrangement, though 

 the specimens and drawings that poured in meant * much to 

 correct and more to add to both species and descriptions ' in 

 the Flora of British India now a quarter of a century old ! 



In the summer of 1900 he attempted to make use of the 

 lip for classification — the saccate form in contradistinction 

 to the funnel-shaped — at the same time making great use 

 of the sepals and some use of the bracts. But this did not 

 meet the worst difficulty. ' Without the wings I am all at sea, 

 and the attempt to ascertain their forms is heart breaking.' 

 To make out their characters was simply impossible except 

 where each organ was dried separately, as had been done by 

 Mr. Gamble for a good many species. Flowers preserved in 

 alcohol broke at the least touch. The best help came from 

 drawings. After eight months' steady work on the North- 

 western specimens, interrupted only by a bout of influenza 

 and holidays to recruit, ' the result is akin to despair.' The 

 re- examination of Wallich's Herbarium only proved 



that it was not safe to accept the distributed specimens as 

 if they were the types. The specimens are in a frightful 

 condition ; almost impossible to dissect with any confidence, 

 and yet without dissection nothing can be done. The 

 mixture of species is incredible. 



However, Mr. Duthie lent valuable aid, especially in 

 laying out the petals of new specimens and preserving them 

 carefully in spirit, and before long the wings yielded some of 

 their secrets to skilful method and patient handling, and by 

 September 13, 1900, he had come to * some sort of an ending ' 

 of his long work on the W. Himalayan Impatiens. On that 

 day he sent Mr. Duthie * a crude sketch ' of the result, adding 

 the types. 



His practical difficulties are eloquently described in the 

 following : 



Since writing last, I have made the distressing discovery 

 that the wings afford most important characters, which it 

 is impossible to ascertain on dried flowers, or even guess at 





