INTRODUCTION. 



BY SAMUEL HENSHAW. 



THE collections described in the following pages were made in the Chinese 

 provinces of Hupeh and Szechwan during the years 1907 and 1908. With hardly 

 an exception they represent the work of Mr. Walter R. Zappey while he was 

 attached to the expedition sent out by the Arnold Arboretum, under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. E. H. Wilson, the well-known botanical collector. 



Mr. John E. Thayer, recognizing the need of zoological work in lower China, 

 secured the consent of Prof. C. S. Sargent, the Director of the Arnold Arboretum, 

 for a trained collector to accompany Mr. Wilson, and most generously provided 

 the necessary financial support. The obligations of the Museum to Mr. Thayer, 

 already very great, were much increased by this recent act of liberality, and his 

 selection of Mr. Zappey for the work was very fortunate. Mr. Zappey's zeal 

 was such as to require a constant word of caution that he might not overtax 

 his strength, while the size and condition of the entire series of specimens afford 

 evidence alike of his judgment, his energy, his skill in preparation, and his care 

 and watchfulness during the many difficulties in transportation. The results of 

 Mr. Thayer's liberality and Mr. Zappey's zeal would have been very much less, 

 however, had they not been supplemented by the tact and administrative ability 

 of Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson's earlier work in China was of distinct advantage 

 for the success of the Arboretum Expedition. It had shown that he possessed 

 the trustworthiness characteristic of his race, and the natural and ever present 

 suspiciousness of the natives towards aliens engaged in a line of work the object 

 of which is not wholly clear, was happily avoided, from the beginning. 



It should also be recognized that all of Mr. Wilson's time and energy were 

 required for his botanical work l and that every additional task he assumed, 

 even though willingly and successfully, was nevertheless a burden. 



The transcription of Chinese geographic names presents difficulties of ortho- 

 graphy, syllabication, and capitalization; in some works the same name is vari- 

 ously given. It is believed that throughout the following pages a considerable 

 degree of uniformity has been achieved, a result due to Mr. E. C. Drew, who has 



'Some of the results of Mr. Wilson's work in China have been published by the Arboretum: 

 Plantae Wilsonianae. Part I. Cambridge July 31, 1911, 144 pp. Part II. Cambridge, April 30, 

 1912, 168 pp. 



