MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



2/ 



specimens being sent to Kew, if it was thought ad- 

 visable : but you would still desire that authentic 

 specimens of tliose species should ha letained in the 

 Xatural History Museum? — Yes, tTie British Hcrbai- 

 ium in many genera is entirely unreliable. They get 

 hold of collections of plants, -which are incorporated 

 with the collections without anyone being competent 

 to say whether the names are correct. I hnd numbers 

 of errors in the lierbarium. That is why I think it is 

 essential to have a good botanist who would not troub.e 

 about the foreign work at all. I think it is a shame that 

 no b jtanist paid by the Government has any special 

 knowledge of our own botany. 



513. That is not a question of the amalgamation 

 of the collections, but of the staff? — Ko, except that 

 it would be more convenient to have such a man. 



514. "Would you rather have such a man in the 

 Natural History Museum than at Kevr ? — ^Yes. 



515. (Sir John Kirk.) I understand you have not 

 had occasion to do any special work in foreign plants 

 or Colonial plants ? — Xo. I possess about two-thirds 

 of the plants of Europe in my herbarium, but I have 

 only worked at them as an amusement, not seriously 

 studying those plants. 



516. Have you had occasion to study American, 

 African, or Indian plants? — Xo. 



517. {Mr. Seymour.) Do you say that what you 

 consider necessary is that the British Herbarium 



should be retained at .South Kensington only?- -5^o, ji/,. j,' j 

 I do not think that. I think you would want a general Hanlmry 

 herbarium there. I was speaking more of my personal k.i,.s. 

 work. 



518. Tou would not be in favour of the removal ^ Nov^^QOO. 

 of the European Herbarium to Kew? — Not at all. 



You often want to see the European Herbarium for 

 something bearing on British plants: you wa-it to &c^ 

 to what extent they are modified by being further 

 north or south, and so forth. 



519. {Professor Balfour.) The busy people you speak 

 of as going down to the British Museum are almost 

 all concerned with the British plants, are not they? 

 — ^Mainly. 



520. If you had at the British Museum a perfect 

 collection of British plants with an expert attendant, 

 and had these representative floras, would not that 

 give them everything they wanted? — With a repre- 

 sentative herbarium of other parts of the world, I 

 think so. I think it would be a great convenience 

 to keep all the types together at Kew or elsewhere, 

 but I am hardly in a position to judge of that. 



521. You would not object much )o the removal of 

 the type specimens to Kew ? — Personally, I should not. 



522. And do you think that would meet the views 

 of others who, like yourself, make so much use of 

 the British Museum at the present time? — Yes, I 

 should think so. 



Mr. William Fawcett, B.Sc, 



523. {Chairman.) I believe you are now the DircL'tor 

 of the Public Gardens, Jamaica ? — Yes. 



524. You were. I think, once attached to the British 

 Museum? — I vas there for live j-ears. 



525. And you have spent a considerable number of 

 years in the study of botany ? — Yes. 



526. You are familiar witdr the collections both of the 

 British Museum and of Kew ? — Yes. 



527. Have you any views as to whether it is desirable 

 to make any change in the maintenance of those two 

 Herbaria in their present condition — whether it is de- 

 sirable that both of them should be maintained as they 

 are at present, or do you think that some change might 

 be properly introduced ? — I think it is very much better 

 that they should be kept distinct on their present lines ; 

 perhaps at Kew they should pay attention to arranging 

 the collections according to Colonies, Kew being the 

 head of all the Colonial Gardens. 



528. Would you very much regret the transference 

 of the main collections at Kew to the British Museum ? 

 — Yes, I think they are better where they are. 



529. Do you think, supposing there were other ad- 

 vantages, there would be any great objection to re- 

 moving from the British Museum type specimens, so 

 as to make the collection at Kew quite complete for the 

 purpose of botanical research, leaving at the British 

 Museum a collection of authentic specimens which 

 could be used for reference, not only a British her- 

 barium but a general herbarium, consisting not of types, 

 but of authenticated specimens, such as would be use- 

 ful for the identification of plants by persons who are 

 unable to go down to Kew ? — No, I do not think that 

 plan would do at all. From my point of view, I think 

 that the two establishments are doing each their own 

 work, and I do not see that they are interfering with 

 each other. I am inclined to thJnk that if you put 

 the whole of fhe men under the same roof, with their 

 collections combined, no better work would be done. 

 I think there is a sense of rivalry between the two esta- 

 blishments to a certain extent, and that they are very 

 keen that each should uphold the honour and dignity 

 of its own collection. 



530. Do you think that is beneficial for the progress 

 of botanical science ? — I think it is. 



531. Do you think there is any very great difficulty 

 in the fact that there are certain groups at Kew not at 

 the British Museum, and at the British Museum there 

 are certain groups not so fully represented at Kew, so 

 that it happens from time to time that an investigator is 

 obliged first to go to Kew and then to the British 

 Museum, and then sometimes back to Kew, losing, as 

 he do«s, time "which would not be lost if all the speci- 

 mens he had to consult were in one place ? — Of course 

 there is a very great deal to be said for that view, but on 

 the other hand I do not know that there is as much loss 



3499- 



F.L.S., called ; and examined. 



of time as may be imagined. For instance, in my case 

 I have been working at Jamaica orchids at the British 

 Museum and Kew. I have gone principally to the 

 British Museum, because it is more convenient for me, 

 and I .work tihrough a particuJar genus there, and then 

 I go down to Kew to see what types or extra sipecJmens 

 they have there. It takes me very little time to run 

 through .the whole of the specimens of that genus there. 



532. You spoke just .now about the two callec^tlons 

 having more or less different functions. Oould you 

 very briefly ,state what a.re the differences between the 

 two ? — I should tliink that at KeWj as they have been 

 doing for very many years, a.ttention should be spe- 

 cially directed to the colonial floras. The " Flora of 

 India," for instance, has been published. Sir Joseph 

 Hooker told me himself that it wanted considerable 

 revision in parts, and he is doing it. It is the same 

 with other colonies ; the floras of some of them have 

 been already published, but they no doubt want addi- 

 tions and revisions. There are a great number of 

 colonies that require floras, and I think that ought to- 

 be the special work of Kew. Perhaps at the British 

 Museum more general work might be done, the mono- 

 graphs of certain families or genera might be there 

 worked out. 



533. That is to say, you would make Kew in the 

 main a colonial establishment ? — Yes. 



534. And would leave the main progress of botanical - 



science to the British Museum ? — ^I t'hink so. 



535. {Lord Avehury.) It has been suggested to us that 

 the type specimens might be removed from the British 

 Museum, and taken down to Kew, and duiDlicates left 

 in their place. Would it not be a very great dis- 

 couragement to the keeper of any museum to have in- 

 teresting and important specimens removed in that 

 way? — I think it would be most discouraging to have 

 the type specimens removed from either of the estab- 

 lishments to the other. 



536. You think .that no other authentic specimens- 

 could ever be of the same absoluite importance ? — They" 

 could not be. 



537. {Professor Balfour.) You spoke of the rivalry 

 between the two establishments ; does not that rivalry 

 lead to unnecessary expense sometimes in the way of 

 purchase of collections, and might it not also lead to 

 competition ? — ^It might lead to competition in the pur- 

 chase of specimens, but I should not imagine the 

 amount of money spent in that way would be very large. 

 If Kew were to confine itself principally to colonial 

 work, I do not think there would be that competition, 

 or, at any rate, not so much. 



538. Suppose that this idea of working the floras at 

 Kew and the monographs at the British Muse am were 

 carried out, would it not involve the people at Kew 

 not only doing their work there, but also working at 



d2 



il/r. W. 

 Faiccett, 



li.SC, F.L.S. 



