PREFACE. 



Mrs. J. van G-rolMeyers, wife to Mr. (1. J. van Grol, adminibtra- 

 tor of the Dutch West Indian Island St. Eustatius, sent to the 

 „Koloniaal Museum in Haarlem" a nice collection of dried plants 

 collected in St. Eustatius in the years 1904 — 1906. 

 She also gave such a collection to the Herbarium of the Bota- 

 nical Laboratory of the University of Utrecht. 

 The latter collection of about 850 numbers gave rise to a rene- 

 wed investigation to the Flora of the Dutch West Indian Islands. 

 I am glad to say that the collection made by Mrs. J. van Grol- 

 Meyers is a very good one. The name of Mr. van Grol himself 

 is well known to the student of the Melocacti of the Dutch West 

 Indian Islands, and the work Mrs. van Grol did now, proved to 

 be a great help for the study of the Flora of the Dutch West Indies 

 Prof. Dr. F. A. F. C. Went, Director of the Botanical Laboratory 

 and Garden of the University of Utrecht kindly intrusted to me 

 the determination of the collection of the above mentioned West 

 Indian Plants, and in 1305 he proposed to me to make a voyage 

 to the three Dutch West Indian Islands St. Eustatius, Saba and 

 St. Martin in order to get acquainted with the vegetation there 

 and to get a collection of the plants from the three Islands. 

 I wish to e.xpress my thanks to „De Maatschappij ter Bevordering 

 van het Natuurkundig Onderzoek der Nederlandsche Kolonien 

 („Society for promoting Scientific Investigation in the Dutch Co- 

 lonies"), De Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen (Korthals- 

 fonds) te Amsterdam, the „Commis£ie van het F. W. van Eeden- 

 fonds in Haarlem" and the „Directie van hetProvinciaalUtrechtsch 

 Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen" (Provincial Utrecht 

 Society of Art and Science), who subsided and so made it possible 

 for me to undertake the above mentioned investigations. 

 Most of all I am indebted to the kindness of Prof. F. A. F. C. 

 Went who, after having taken the initiative for my study of the 



