374 



TiMEHR! 



Study of botany will help on what is undoubtedly a good 

 work. 



To begin with the books that arc absolutely necessary. 

 First, we have Grisebach'S " Flora of the British 

 West Indies.*' This is very useful indeed, especially 

 for the coast plants, as these are virtually identical with 

 species found in Trinidad and the more southern islands. 

 A beginner can get along fairly well with this book alone 

 up to the time when he begins to visit the forest region. 

 Now and again he will come upon something which he 

 cannot identify, but ihis may be preserved until a later 

 period when his knowledge of the more wide-spread 

 species is fairly complete. If he wishes the assistance of 

 illustrations there are several old books such as those of 

 PluMIER, JacQUIN, and SWARTZ, which will help him 

 considerably. These are referred to by GrisEBACH, so 

 that there will be no great difficulty in finding them out 

 however obscured they may be from their out-ef-date 

 nomenclature. 



Having got so far as to be able to identify almost 

 everything in his neighbourhood, the student may pre- 

 pare himself for the more difficult task of identifying the 

 plants of the forest region, and here he will meet with 

 many checks. GrisEBACH helps him but little and there 

 is no single book of the same kind which can be utilised. 

 However, he need not despair as there are a few books 

 which will prove of very great assistance. First among 

 these we place the third volume of RiCHARD SCHOM- 

 BURGK'S " Reisen in Britisch Guiana," which contains a 

 list of the plants found by that indefatigable botanist. 

 Unfortunately it does not contain descriptions, and there- 

 fore the student has to go farther for these, but neverthe- 



