BERTHOLD SEEMANN. 3 
š 
England on June 6th, 1851. On Sir W. J. Hooker’s recommendation, 
the Admiralty requested Mr. Seemann to publish the results of this 
voyage, and he accordingly produced, early in 1853, the * Narrative of 
the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald, being a Circumnavigation of the Globe 
and Three Cruises to the Arctie Regions in Search of Sir John Franklin.’ 
This book was in two volumes, and was translated into German, partly 
by Edward Vogel, the African traveller, and passed through two editions 
on the Continent. The animals collected during the voyage were de- 
scribed by the late Sir John Richardson in a quarto volume, and in the 
years 1852-1857 the botanical results appeared in Seemann’s * Botany of 
the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald.’ This contains accounts of the floras of 
Western Esquimaux-land, the Isthmus of Panama, North-western Mexico, 
and the island of Hongkong, with 100 plates by Fitch. In the prepara- 
tion of this book the author had the advantage of the assistance of Sir 
William and Dr. J. D. Hooker (the latter furnishing the analyses of the 
plates), which is cordially acknowledged in the preface. 
About this time the degree of Ph.D. was couferred on Seemann by the 
University of Göttingen, and the Imperial German “Academia Nature 
Curiosorum " made him a member under the name of ‘ Bonpland,"—in 
aecordance with the usual practice of the aeademy. A few years later 
he was elected Adjunct or Vice-President for life. 
In 1853 Dr. Seemann started, in conjunction with his brother W. E. 
G. Seemann,* a quarto botanical journal, in German, under the title 
‘Bonplandia.’ This was published in Hanover, though edited in London, 
and was well supported by botanists of various countries. Its publication 
was closed on the completion of the tenth volume at the end of 1862. 
The year 1857 took Dr. Seemann to Canada as official representative of 
the Linnean Society at the meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science at. Montreal; on that occasion he read a paper 
on “ Parthenogenesis in Plants and Animals," and took the opportu- 
nity of becoming acquainted with British North America and the United 
States. — 
In 1859, the Viti or Fiji Islands in the South Pacific Ocean were for- 
mally ceded by their king and chiefs to Great Britain ; but before accept- 
i he proffered cession, Colonel Smythe, R.A., was commissioned, by 
our Government, to draw up an official report on the state and condition 
of these islands, and through the influence of Sir W. J. Hooker Dr. 
Seemann was asked to join the expedition. Leaving England in Febru- 
_ ary, 1860, Dr. Seemann went, by way of Egypt and Mauritius, to Sydney, 
touching at King George’s Sound and Melbourne, and thence proceeding, 
in the ‘ John Wesley ’ missionary vessel, to Viti, where he arrived some 
months beforeColonel Smythe, and at once commenced exploring this little- 
known group of islands, collecting imformation on all points of interest, 
* M. 7 * Died March 3rd, 1868. 
* B 2 
