408 Herbarium of the Calcutta Botanic Garden. [No. 5, 



and Singapore, thus adding a knowledge of the Malayan flora to 

 that of the rest of India. 



Abundant materials for the elucidation of the Botany of India 

 having thus been brought together, it became a question in what 

 manner they might be disposed of to most advantage. Dr. Wal~ 

 lich at one time entertained the idea of incorporating them into an 

 Indian Flora, and with this object he commenced the publication of 

 an edition of Roxburgh's Flora into which all his own discoveries 

 were introduced. As his collections accumulated, this task became 

 every day more difficult, and his other duties, and in particular the 

 state of his health, rendered its progress extremely slow, and at last 

 compelled him to stop, after publishing two volumes, which extend 

 as far as the end of Pentandria Monogynia in the Linnean arrange- 

 ment, and include therefore the 1st volume of the ordinary edition 

 of Eoxburgh, or less than ■§ of the whole work. 



Dr. Wallich then determined to return to England with all his 

 collections, and with the consent of the Court of Directors, which 

 was at once liberally accorded, to distribute amongst scientific men 

 in all parts of Europe the materials which he had accumulated, but 

 could not hope to have leisure to work into shape, in the hope that 

 each recipient would be able to lend his aid to the study of some 

 part, so that by the joint labour of all, the Indian Flora might be 

 benefited and furthered. The result has been satisfactory. The 

 dispersion of the Wallichian Herbarium over all parts of Europe 

 enabled students of Botany every where to obtain access to a set 

 of these specimens, and monographers have, in describing them, 

 uniformly quoted the numbers attached to the specimens. The 

 Wallichian Herbarium has, therefore, become one of the foundations 

 of Indian Botany, and it is a source of regret to me that a set of 

 its specimens does not form a part of our collection here. Steps 

 have recently been taken which will, 1 hope, remedy the deficiency, 

 as several duplicate sets still exist in the Linnean Society's col- 

 lection. 



Those only can appreciate the difficulties with which Dr. "Wallich 

 had to contend in this distribution, who have had much practice in 

 the arrangement of dried plants, and are familiar with the irksome 

 task of assorting the miscellaneous collections sent in by numerous 



