even romantic the efforts of Blanco, Villar, Kamel, and others may 

 seem, yet, with all their enthusiasm and perseverance, their work 

 is only an obstacle, for it adds to a task already sufficiently exten- 

 sive a great many problems, which must be grappled with, often 



Vidal formed an excellent herbarium of over 4,000 numbers 

 and in so doing visited several of the highest mountains of north- 

 ern Luzon, hitherto untouched, obtaining in this way many spe- 

 cies which cast an entirely new aspect upon the flora. He further 

 took his material to Kew, where the greatest collection of the 

 plants of Cuming and other eastern explorers was to be found, 

 made careful comparisons, and thus avoided the errors of his 

 compatriots and laid .a firm foundation for future work. He 

 published six books, two of which are devoted to a review of 

 Cuming's numbers and the first half of his own. 



With the last years of Spanish rule came renewed activity in 



Manila, 



ing. Bet 



5.2C 



. Loher, 

 , the gre 



l phar 



: of 



iety yet 



obtained by one person. Yet, although d 

 has been published about them, the ferns excepted. Dr. War- 

 burg, of Berlin, got about 3,000 numbers in 1888, and 

 scriptions of some of these have appeared, especially on the 



igher group: 

 74-5, made a valuable col- 

 the Challenger expedition 

 aut little has been pub- 

 obtained. F. W. Bur- 

 mth in 1878, chiefly in 



i plants and certain of 

 Steere, while studying the birds i 

 lection of ferns. In the same 3 

 spent several weeks around the 

 lished except upon the cryptogams then 

 bidge, of Dublin, was in Jolo for a mc 

 search of orchids, and in 1896 J. White 



Mindoro. Two other travelers who have 

 records of their obse 

 the Visayas in 1859, and Marche, who 

 and Paragua, one in 1 879-1 881, the 



Such was the condition of affairs that faced botanists about 

 the time of the American occupation. Worse was to come. 

 Vidal's herbarium was burned in 1897, Villar' s in 1899, and the 



