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stems of plants, and others cultivating fungi for food ; he also 

 obtained specimens of many other new or little known land in- 

 vertebrates, and generously aided greatly in the work of preparing 

 the botanical collections, which became so bulky toward the end 

 of the trip as to require the unremitting attention of the entire 

 party. Professor Wheeler and Dr. Howe were the photographers 

 of the expedition, and secured many negatives of scientific value. 



Soon after the annexation of Porto Rico, it was determined to 

 explore it botanically on behalf of the Garden, and the work was 

 commenced in 1899 by means of a sum of money contributed 

 for the purpose by Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, then President of 

 the Board of Managers ; Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Heller were sent 

 there as collectors in that year, and worked for several months, 

 returning there the next year; in 1901 Professor Underwood, 

 accompanied by Mr. R. F. Griggs, made a visit to the island for 

 an investigation of the ferns in co6peration with Mr. 0. F. 

 Cook and Mr. F. S. Collins of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture; in 1902, Mr. Percy Wilson, now my administra- 

 tive assistant, accompanied Dr. Alexander W. Evans, of Yale 

 University, in an exploration of the forests of the LuquiHo 

 Mountains, Dr. Evans making a special study and collection of 

 the hepaticae, in continuation of work previously carried on by 

 him in the same field ; and in 1903, Dr. Howe spent the sum- 

 mer in collecting and observing the seaweeds, his part in the 

 present expedition being principally supplementary to his pre- 

 vious work, and enabling him to study the marine plants at a 

 different time of year; in 1903, Professor F. S. Earle, then one 

 of our assistant curators, and now Director of the Cuban Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, made a visit to Porto Rico for the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, and secured a consid- 

 erable number of fungi which were added to the Garden col- 

 lection. 



These previous expeditions had brought to light so much of 

 novelty, and the study of the collections obtained had added so 

 greatly to our knowledge of the West Indian flora, that the 

 further exploration of the island seemed very desirable. 



It is already clew that the collections just made are of high 



