﻿ON SOME OLD COLLECTIONS OF CHINESE PLANTS. 295 



I have little doubt that Alexander's botanical collections are to 

 be referred to the time when the island of Chusan was under 

 British rule, from 1840 to 1846. I may observe that there is in 

 Hooker's Lond. Journ. Bot. vii. (1848), 273-78, an article by W. 

 Wilson on the Mosses gathered by T. Anderson, Esq., Surgeon to 

 H.M.S. 'Plover,' on the Chinese coast from Chusan to Hong Kong, 

 Dec. 1845, to March, 1846. Anderson gives for his collection the 

 same localities as noticed by Alexander for his ferns. 



Robert Fortune visited China four times. First journey, 1843- 

 46 ; second journey, 1848-51 ; third journey, 1853-56 ; fourth 

 journey, 1860-61. 



The number of species of Chinese plants collected by Fortune 

 during these four journeys, and transmitted to the Horticultural 

 1 specimens, or also to other 

 i estimated at 450. The her- 

 3 first visit to China, 

 1843-46," were distributed by the Horticultural Society to the great 

 botanical institutions in Europe and to some distinguished botanists 

 (I understand gratis). This distribution seems to have taken place 

 in 1847, for already in 1848 Turczaninov, a well-known Russian 

 botanist, described from Fortune's collection the Saururopsis chi- 

 nensis in the Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xxi. i. p. 590, and in the same 

 year Fortune's name appears for the first time in DC. Prodromus, 

 vol. xii. 



Fortune sent also a few herbarium specimens from his other 

 journeys. Comp. Lindley in Paxt. Flow. Oard. iii. 107; Clrmntis 

 lanuginosa, gathered in 1850. DC. Prodr. xvi. 2, 471 ; Cupressus 

 funebris, discovered by Fortune in 1848. Bot. Mag. t. 4499 ; Cephalo- 

 taxus Fortunei, 1848. Moore in Gard. Chron. 1855, 708; Drynaria 

 Fortunei, second journey. 



From the statements of various botanists who have described 

 Fortune's plants, and who cite his labels, we can derive some 

 information regarding his interesting collections. The following 

 localities appear on his labels : — China (without locality), Hong 

 Kong, Macao, Canton, Amoy, Chinchew (Chang chou fu, not far 

 from Amoy), Chamoa Island (N.E. of Amoy), Fu chou fu, Chusan, 

 Puto Island (Chusan Archipelago), Shanghai, Hwuy chow (in 

 Am hui), Ning po, Hang chou fa. Sometimes the year is given, 

 1845, 1846, or even the exact date. A great part of the plants are 

 numbered. There are about ninety plants in Fortune's herbarium 

 which are marked A, with a number. As to the meaning of this 

 designation the botanists do not agree in their views. 



Turczaninov, in describing Saururopsis (1. c. 1848), cites For- 

 tune A, n. 102, and adds: China borealis.— FAatodmdron Furtunn 

 Turczaninov in Bull. Mosc. 1863, i. 603. Fortune A, 46 ; China 

 borealis. The late C. Maximowicz, who noticed and described many 

 plants from Fortune's collection, likewise considered A to mean 

 North China, as did also Muller Arg. See DC. Prod. xv. 966, sub 

 Mallotm japonicus Fortune A, 88; China septentrionalis. 



It would seem that the view taken by these botanists that A on 

 Fortune's labels was based upon indications received from the 



