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region and penetrated farther into it than any other botanist 

 had been able to do. During these trips he has made extensive 

 botanical collections, including many species of trees and shrubs 

 new to science ; his work of collecting has been carried on for 

 several years in cooperation with the Garden, and we have re- 

 ceived from his department a complete series of all the plants 

 secured ; he led me to many of the novelties found by him, and 

 we secured additional specimens of them ; we also detected a _ 



The region is a very rough one physiographically, consisting of 

 a very porous limestone eroded into characteristic hills and deep 

 hollows, the ragged edges of the rocks making passage through 

 it, except on the few roads and trails, exceedingly difficult and 

 necessarily slow to avoid dangerous tumbles ; it has a general 

 elevation of some 2,000 feet above the sea, its highest hills said 

 to reach 2,700 feet, and its climate is delightful ; naturally, it is 

 very sparsely populated ; we concluded that its complete explor- 

 ation could only be accomplished by means of a pack-train and 

 camp outfit, using existing trails and penetrating laterally from 

 them as far as possible on foot ; there is no doubt that this 

 method would bring out many additional novelties, as the distri- 

 bution of plants there is very local, and I hope it may be accom- 

 plished before some of them are lost to science by the somewhat 

 irresponsible cutting of timber which is now going on. 



A week was given to collecting in the higher portions of the 

 Blue Mountains, using Cinchona, the Garden's subtropical station 

 and laboratory as a base, and the party enjoyed while there the 

 delightful hospitality and kindly aid of Mrs. William Fawcett, 

 wife of the Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. Expedi- 

 tions were made to the summit of Sir John Peak, the second 

 highest mountain of the range, along a trail recently cut out by 

 means of contributions of students who have used the laboratory, 

 which opens up a surprisingly interesting tract of mountain 

 forest at altitudes of 6,000 to 7,000 feet. Here the bryologists 

 of the expedition revelled in the wealth of rare mosses and liver- 

 worts which clothed the tree-trunks, the shrubs and the ground, 

 forming cushions and festoons of entrancing beauty ; in spite of a 



