COMPANION 
TO THE 
BOTANICAL 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
Mr. GEORGE GARDNER, whose inten- 
tion of visiting South America as a Bota- 
nical Collector has been noticed at p. 226 
of this Journal, embarked from Liverpool 
on the 20th of last month (May) for Rio 
de Janeiro. The Organ Mountains, so rich 
in orchideous plants, will probably be the 
spot where he will commence his researches; 
but the chief field of investigation will not 
be fixed till his arrival in Brazil, and 
will depend much on the information and 
assistance he will obtain from influential 
persons, to whom he is favoured with let- 
ters of introduction. Preference will of 
course be given to those parts of South 
America which have been the least ex- 
plored by the Botanist. Few Naturalists 
have gone to South America under more 
favourable auspices, and the number of 
names of such Botanists as intend taking 
collections of specimens from him, at the 
moderate rate of £2 the hundred species, 
is already considerable, so that we have 
every reason to believe he will meet in the 
fullest extent with the encouragement to 
which his great enthusiasm so justly enti- 
tles him. The specimens, ticketed in all 
the collections, will be marked with corre- 
sponding numbers, which numbers will 
be referred to when the lists of the spe- 
cies come to be published : as they will be 
with all convenient speed. 
The beautiful ** Musci Britannici," or 
Pocket Herbarium of specimens of British 
Mosses, was published a little while previ- 
MAGAZIN E. 
ous to the Author's departure for South 
merica; and it makes a most valuable and 
important addition to the works on British 
Cryptogamic Botany. The pages of an 8vo. 
volume(boundlike a pocket-book)are mark- 
different kinds, and in each the generic and 
specific names are given, corresponding 
with the arrangement of the British Flora: 
and every Moss that Mr. Gardner has been 
able to procure is neatly fastened in its 
proper place; so that the whole may be 
turned over, and the different species re- 
ferred to with the same facility as if the 
page contained so many engravings of the 
species. The number of species in the 
work varies in different copies, from two 
hundred to two hundred and fifty. As the 
number of copies is necessarily limited, 
and many were subscribed for, previous to 
the time of publication, very few are un- 
disposed of. Those that remain are left 
for sale at the Glasgow Botanic Garden, 
and may be obtained by applying to Mr. 
Stewart Murray, Curator of that Institution. 
The indefatigable Dr. Schomburgk is 
prosecuting his geographical and botanical 
researches in the interior of South Ame- 
rica. His last letters were dated ** Brooh 
Curassanack, in 3° 50' N. L., 58° 35’ W. L., 
(a stream, we believe, which flows into the 
Rupunnuny,) 3rd of February, 1886. He 
has dispatched a collection of cryptogamic 
plants to this country for distribution, and 
intended leaving the Rupunnuny during 
the month of March, and descending lei- 
A9 
