62 .MRS. GRIFFITHS^ ALGiE. 



I have to inform you that it was obtained direct from Mrs. Griffiths 

 in June, ?852. It consists of 780 specimens, representing 293 

 species, end though it has been incorporated with the British 

 -Herbarium, the series remains complete. Mrs. Gray, when she 

 mounted the British Algae in the Museum, was not permitted to 

 remove any of the specimens. 



"I h'A made a note of the acquisition of the coHection of 

 Mrs. Griffiths's Seaweeds by the Linnean Society when going 

 over the Proceedings for one of my addresses from the chair. It is 

 obvious to me that, if any collection now existing can be looked 

 upon as specially authoritative for Mrs. Grimths's estimate of the 

 species of Algae known to her, it is that in the possession of the 

 Linnean Society. The terms under which the collection was 

 acquired are thus recorded in the Proceedings, under date Nov. 4th, 

 1858 : — ' The valuable collection of British Algae, formed by the 

 late Mrs. Griffiths, and arranged according to Harvey's Manual of 

 British Alga, presented by the subscribers to a fund for its purchase.* 

 The Fellows of the Society sufficiently interested in Algae to sub- 

 scribe at the time of her death for the purchase of Mrs. Griffiths's 

 herbarium knew of course what they were purchasing. 



M The collection of seaweeds acquired by Kew, four years after 

 Mrs. Griffiths's death, through Miss Burdett-Coutts (who is no 

 algologist), was more extensive than that acquired by the British 

 Museum or the Linnean Society, if the account given by the present 

 Director of Kew Gardens ' on his faith ' expresses anything like the 

 facts of the case. From the ' very large quantities of duplicates ' 

 contained in Miss Burdett-Coutts's collection, it appears to have 

 consisted of, or at least to have contained the bulk of, duplicate 

 specimens not required for Mrs. Griffiths's arranged herbarium now 

 at the Linnean Society's rooms. 



"Permit me to say that you and Mr. Holmes somewhat 

 stretched the meaning of * type specimens ' when you applied this 

 designation to Mrs. Griffiths's collection at the Linnean Society ; 

 for though in respect of British Seaweeds Mrs. Griffiths fully 

 deserved the title, 'facile regina,' she never described a species, and 

 could not consequently have left type specimens. It must be said, 

 however, that she had a singularly clear notion of the species with 

 which she was acquainted ; and it is important to notice that what- 

 ever value the Griffithsian specimens at Kew may have possessed 

 as representing Mrs. Griffiths's estimate of the species, they possess 

 no longer, seeing that Mrs. Gray (who had no critical knowledge of 

 Algae) was allowed to remove what she thought were duplicates : 

 and what remains in the Kew Herbarium represents consequently 

 not Mrs. Griffiths's, but Mrs. Gray's estimate of the species. 



ii 



Yours 



William Cakru 



