Department of botany. 163 



Department of Botany. 



During the past year 20,800 plants, consisting of 13,800 

 flowering plants, 468 vascular cryptogams, 295 Mosses, 1,222 

 Hepatics, 126 Lichens, 1,440 Algie, and 3,449 Fungi, have 

 been mounted and incorporated into the Herbarium. 



In the progress of the work the officers of the Department 

 and others have been occupied as follows : — 



Mr. Baker has incorporated in the general Herbarium 

 various collections of Polypetalse, and additions have prin- 

 cipally been made to Olacinese, Celastrinese, and the genus 

 Saxifraga. The African species of the genus Gombretum 

 have been re-arranged in accordance with Dr. Engler's 

 monograph, and the North American species of Tephrosia 

 have been revised. An examination was made of certain 

 of the types in the genus Malvaviscus and the results 

 published. The identilication of the Polypetal^e collected 

 by Dr. Eand in Rhodesia, mentioned in last year's Report, 

 was concluded, and the Gamopetalse collected by Mr. C. 

 W. Andrews on Christmas Island determined. The British 

 Polypetalse received during the year have been incorporated. 

 During the last three months, a considerable time was 

 spent in superintending the arrangement of a fresh series 

 of specimens of British plants for exhibition, and in 

 supervising the preparation of diagrams for the same. The 

 re-arrangement had been carried as far as Compositse at the 

 end of the year. In this work he has received much voluntary 

 assistance from Miss J. Ross. 



Mr. Britten has mainly been occupied in continuing the 

 preparation of the manusciipt to accompany the plates of 

 Australian plants prepared under the direction of Sir Joseph 

 Banks, and in process of publication by the Trustees. This 

 has incidentally involved much investigation of the older 

 collections which formed part of the Banksian Herbarium, in 

 the course of which considerable light has been thrown on 

 the history of plants, the types of which exist only in the 

 Museum collections, a)nong them the plants of Walter, Sloane, 

 Alton, Houstoun, Phillip Miller, and other early authorities. 

 He has also rendered help to Mr. Hiern in the preparation of 

 the Welwitsch catalogue, and has exercised a general super- 

 vision over the preparation of the Library catalogue as well 

 as over the collection of drawings and engravings of plants. 



Dr. Rendle has completed and prepared for press his 

 enumeration of Dr. Welwitsch's Angolan Monocotyledons, 

 which has been published as Vol. II , Part 1 ; it includes 



So. M 



