ON THE FLOEA OF CHINA. 421 



and Mr. Hemsley has since made i-apid progress with this order, the dis- 

 cussion of which will occupy about 100 pages. 



Dr. A. Henry has presented further large collections to Kew, with a 

 view to their being used for the Report. These have yielded numerous 

 novelties — the most remarkable of which have been published in 

 Hooker's ' Icones Plantarum.' Oue of the most important is a new 

 genus (Trapella, Oliver), a peculiar aquatic type, which is the subject of 

 an elaborate memoir by Dr. F. Oliver in ' The Annals of Botany.' 



Another important collection has been received from the Rev. E. 

 Faber from the western province of Szechuen, and chiefly on Mount 

 Omei, which has an altitude of 11,000 feet. These contain an element of 

 Indian species, intermixed with others which are identical with those sent 

 by Dr. Henry from the neighbourhood of Hupeh. There are also many 

 new species, amongst them Nertera sinoisis, Hemsl., a new species of a 

 genus whose head-quarters are in the Southern Hemisphere. The ferns 

 contain twelve new species, besides an equal number of others not 

 previously known, fi-om China. Scarcely any of the plants, however, are 

 the same as those from the mountainous regions of Yunnan. Other 

 small collections have also been received. 



As an interesting sample of the flora of China, attention may be drawn 

 to the Caprifoliacece, published in the last part of the Index. There are 

 eleven genera, one of which is new, and seventy-seven species, of which 

 fifteen are new. Vihurnum and Lonicera number lespectively twenty- 

 seven and thirty-four species. This is by far the greatest concentration 

 of the order. 



The Committee recommend their reappointment, and that a further 

 sum of 1007. be placed at their disposal. 



Second Report of the Committee, consisting of Professor Foster, 

 Professor Bayley Balfour, Mr. Thiselton-Dyer, Dr. Trimen, 

 Professor Marshall Ward, Mr. Carruthers, Professor Hartog, 

 and Professor Bower (^Secretary), appointed for the pihrpose of 

 taking steps for the establishment of a Botanical Station at 

 Peradeniya, Ceylon. 



The Committee i-eport that no part of the grant has as yet been ex- 

 pended. Though several botanists have expressed themselves as desirous 

 of going to Peradeniya, in the end no one was able technically to accept 

 the situation during last year. The Committee now learn that Mr. 

 Potter, of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, has decided to go out during 

 the ensuing winter. The grant of 50Z. has accordingly been drawn, and 

 the Secretary is in communication with Dr. Trimen, Director of the 

 Royal Gardens, Peradeniya, as to the apparatus which should be pur- 

 chased with that sum. 



The Committee, in presenting this as an interim report, request that 

 they may be reappointed for the ensuing year, but do not ask for any 

 further grant at present. 



