78 THE WEST AMEKICAN SCIENTIST. 



the mountains to the Tannenah river, which they followed to the 

 Yukon and thence to the sea. A very severe trip as it was made 

 on foot and in birch canoes. As they started in March they suf- 

 fered greatly from cold and want of food. They have done them- 

 selves great credit. 



At St. Matthews Island, where we stopped a day, I killed a po- 

 lar bear of the largest size, which I hope you may see in the 

 National museum some time. 



Arriving at the Pribylor Islands I disembarked, the 'Corwin' 

 going on to San Francisco, she having the crews of two ship- 

 wrecked whaling vessels on board which she had picked up while 

 our exploring party was up the new river. I remained a month 

 at St. Pauls collecting fur seals and then came here on the Alaska 

 commercial company's schooner 'Turner,' where I am now doing 

 some collecting. I expect to take the company's steamer 'Dora' 

 for San Francisco in two weeks." 



WASHINGTONIA ROBUSTA. 



[Translated from the 'Revue Horticole,' Sept. 1885, by Mrs. G. A. Purdie.] 



Toward the end of the summer of 1883 I received from the cel- 

 ebrated establishment of Mr. L. Van Houtte at Ghent the offer of 

 a certain number of Pritchardia filifera to be used in planting the 

 parks on the shores of the Mediterranean. These plants having 

 become quite common in the south of France where they are 

 raised by thousands, I responded that I would take fifteen only of 

 the specimens named. Hardly had these fifteen samples arrived 

 at Cannes when Mr. Van Houtte wrote me that an error had been 

 made and that the palms I had received were not P. filifera. He 

 added that the seed and specimen plants had been submitted to 

 the eminent palmographer of Herrenhausen (Hanover), Mr. H. 

 Wendland who had just discovered among them a new species of 

 the greatest possible beauty — the Washingtonia robusta and in 

 the April, 1883, number of the 'Berliner Gartenzeitung,' a journal 

 edited by Dr. Wittmark appears a note (p. 198) from Mr. Wend- 

 land of which this is a translation : 



Washingtonia robusta, Herm. Wendland. 



As a novelty of the first rank I desire to make known to palm 

 amateurs that Mr. Louis Van Houtte, of Ghent, is the fortunate 

 posessor of this pearl and that some time since he had the kind- 

 ness to send me a beautiful specimen with a request for name. 



