292 FERNS I BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 



logue of 1857, were not in the Kew collection in 1864, 

 viz., Gymnogramma rutcefolia, Hemionites pedata, 

 Notholcena lanuginosa, Myriopteris vestita, Onychium 

 auratum, Slechnum triangular e, Neplirolepis undulata, 

 Lindscea guianensis, Schizoloma ensifoliaj Thyrsopteris 

 elegans, Botrychium virginicum. 



Several special causes which lead to the loss of 

 species have already been noticed. I did not intend 

 to advert to them again ; but the recent death of 

 Sir W. J. Hooker * necessitates me to repeat what I 

 have stated at pages 42 and 43, where, in speaking 

 of my having resigned the charge of the Kew collec- 

 tion, I said that " happily it remains under the 

 direction of Sir W. J. Hooker." These words will 

 now apply to Dr. Hooker, the present Director, whose 

 name is sufficient in itself to sustain the scientific 

 reputation of Kew. Let us hope that the general 

 collection of living plants of the Botanic Garden, now 

 famous for more than a century, f will not suffer by 

 the modern taste for showy flowers, and what is 

 now fashionably called " foliage plants." 



* Died August 12th, 1865. 



f Number of species at Kew in 1768 . . . . 3,400 

 Ditto 1786 .. .. 5,500 

 Ditto 1813 .. .. 9,800 

 Since the latter date no general catalogue has been pub- 

 lished, and no public record kept of the plants introduced 

 or lost. 



