162 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Department of Botany. 



During the past year 22, .575 plants, consisting of 14,475 

 flowering plants, 99 vascular cryptogams, 777 Mosses, 570 

 Hepatics, 10 Lichens, 3,723 Algae, and 2,921 Fungi, have been 

 mounted and incorporated into the Herbarium. 



In the progress of the work the ofl&cers 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 Um.belliferse and Cruciferse. The types 

 of the older species of North American Eryngiura, contained 

 in the Museum collections, have been carefully examined, 

 and the results arrived at are embodied in a paper which 

 was written in conjunction with Mr. Britten. The Poly- 

 petalse collected by Capt. H. H. P. Deasy in Chinese Turkestan 

 and Tibet, have been identified ; an enumeration will be 

 found in an Appendix to Capt. Deasy's Travels. The 

 genus Mathiola has been re-arranged and revised in ac- 

 cordance with Pascal Conti's recent Monograph, and the 

 North American species of Ranunculus and Thalictrum have 

 been revised by Mr. Davis' Monograph. The British Poly- 

 petalae received during the year have been incorporated. 

 During the earlier part of the year a considerable time was 

 spent in superintending the arrangement of the fresh series 

 of British plants mentioned in last year's Report. The series 

 has been completed with the exception of a few spaces which 

 have been left until the requisite specimens are obtainable. 

 In this work much voluntary assistance was again received 

 from Miss J. Ross. 



Mr. Britten's chief work has been the continuation of the 

 preparation of the manuscript to accompany the Illustrations 

 of the Botany of Cook's First Voyage. This has involved 

 the examination and, in some cases, the re-arrangement of the 

 Australian plants in the Herbarium, and the investigation 

 and identification of many plants in the historical collections 

 which form so important a part of the Herbarium. He has 

 also helped Mr. Hiern in the preparation of the Welwitsch 

 Catalogue, and has generally supervised the preparation of 

 the Departmental Library Catalogue ; he has also corrected 

 the proof of the botanical portion of the General Library 

 Catalogue. Mr. Britten's work in the general Herbarium 

 has consisted in the identification of Masson's Madeira and 

 other plants ; he has also written up the types of numerous 

 species published in the earlier volumes of the Botanical 

 Magazine and elsewhere ; has worked at Verbenacese, Legum- 

 inosse (Lathyrus), Ericaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and other orders, 

 and has incorporated a large number of additions to each of 

 these groups. 



