XVlll THE HISTORY OF THE BOTANICAL MAGAZINE 
for; and it has not been ascertained what has become of the 
originals of the second series (1827-1844), plates 2,705 to 
4131, leaving 1,427 more to be accounted for. On the 
Magazine becoming the property of Reeve Brothers, in 1845, 
the originals were left to the disposal of the successive 
editors, Sir William and Sir Joseph Hooker, through whom 
they have passed into the possession of Kew, and the set is 
nearly complete for the sixty years of the third series. 
The great majority of the plants figured during this 
period are hardy European and Eastern North American ; 
and the next in point of number are Cape plants belonging 
to the genera Erica, Pelargonium, Mesembryanthemum, 
Gladiolus, and a few others. Scarcely any very striking or 
noteworthy subjects appeared, and new species, such as 
Diosma serratifolia, plate 456, were exceedingly rare ; 
in fact, there was some justification for Andrews’ asser- 
tion, to which I shall have occasion to allude again, that 
the editor of the Botanical Magazine had failed to fulfil his 
promise to publish new garden plants. Masson, who was 
sent out from Kew in 1772, had already introduced a large 
number of Cape plants ; and prominent among others who 
imported, directly or indirectly, numerous exotic plants 
were Sir Joseph Banks, Doctors Fothergill, Pitcairn and 
Lettsom, and Captain William Bligh. The last-named 
commanded the ship Bounty, which was sent to the South 
Sea Islands to procure plants of the Bread-fruit tree for 
cultivation in the West Indies. How he and a few others 
were cast adrift by a mutinous crew, who had become so 
enamoured of the mode of life in those favoured islands 
that they did not hesitate taking this extreme measure to 
obtain their freedom, subsequently settling in Pitcairn 
Island (where some of their descendants still live), forms 
one of the most romantic episodes in the history of expedi- 
tions for the purpose of extending the cultivation of the 
vegetable products of distant countries, Bligh, however, 
subsequently succeeded with the ship Providence in carrying 
living plants to the West Indies, and eventually attained 
the rank of Rear-Admiral. The Marquis of Bute and 
Dr. Lettsom were munificent patrons of horticulture 
and of the Flora Londinensis, in recognition of which 
Curtis dedicated to them the two volumes that appeared. 
Returning to the Botanical Magazine, we find the first 
plant illustrated is Iris persica, followed by Echinacea 
purpurea,’ Eranthis hyemalis, Cyclamen Coum, and many 
' The modern name is substituted in this and many other instances. 
