2 INTRODUCTION 



MAKING, Ow ATARI, and MIYAKE, were sent there by the Imperial University. 

 They all brought back to the Herbarium at Tokyo good collections, which 

 were studied by Prof. J. MATSUMURA. 



But no great progress was made in the botanical study of the island, 

 until in 1904 the Government of Formosa decided to carry out a botanical 

 survey of the whole island. Mr. T. KAWAKAMI with several assistants was 

 then engaged to collect plants, and I devoted myself to the investigation of 

 the materials sent by the collectors to the Herbarium at Tokyo. It was in 

 these circumstances that, in 1905, I wrote "Enumeratio Plantarum Formos- 

 anarum " in conjunction with Prof. J. MATSUMURA. At that time, owing 

 to the hostility of the savages, the botanical survey did not extend to 

 regions having an elevation of more than 3000 ft. Fortunately, however, 

 the Government of Formosa has gradually succeeded in getting control of 

 the mountains. During 1905-1907, several excursions to the mountainous 

 districts were carried out by the Government. In 1908, as a result of the 

 study of the mountain-collections, I published " Flora Montana Formosno^", 

 in which a considerable number of new species were described. 



Since that publication, I have had many more collections from the 

 island. These collections are, in greater part, from the mountainous regions, 

 and contain a considerable number of novelties. As the flora of the island 

 has a close affinity to the floras of Japan and China, it is very important, 

 in working up the materials, to make an exhaustive comparison of the collec- 

 tions with specimens from those two countries. At the same time, as the flora 

 of the island contains a considerable number of Indian elements including 

 the Himalayas and the Malay peninsula and archipelago, it is equally 

 desirable for the work that specimens of these regions should also be com- 

 pared. For a comparison with the Japanese specimens, the Herbarium at 

 Tokyo will answer fairly well, as it includes nearly all Japanese plants 

 though not exliaustively. Chinese plants, however, are here very poorly 

 represented. I therefore found it very unsatisfactory to work up so big a 



1 ) MATSUMURA, J. et HAYATA, B. Enumeratio Plantnram Formosanarum. Journ. Coll. Sci. Imp. 

 Univ. Tokyo XXII. 702 pages, with 18 plates, 1906. 



2) HAYATA, B. Flora Montana Formosne. Jonrn. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo XXV. Art.-19, 

 2GO pages, with 41 plates, 1908. 



