364 



Extract of a letter from J. W. Masters, Esq., respecting his travels 

 and the collections in Assam. 

 I have to offer my best thanks for 8 vols, of DeCandolle's 

 Prodromus and 2 vols. Lindley's Orchidea, and you will be glad to 

 hear that these did not reach me till I had arranged all my spe- 

 cimens so far as I was able to do with my slender means, and got to 

 the end of Exogenese in a fair copy of the list. Had I received 

 these valuable books earlier, I should, in all probability, have been 

 vain enough to attempt the determination of genera and species, and 

 before I could have got half through my collection, the greater part 

 would have been destroyed. Your kindness, however, I trust will 

 not be entirely thrown away upon me, as I shall be able to take ad- 

 vantage of it whenever I get a fresh specimen. 



I yesterday completed the list of my specimens, running the num- 

 bers up to 1975, having lost about 100 specimens out of those which 

 I have collected since June 1843, not a vestige of them to be found 

 now, save their numbers and localities in my collection book. Finding 

 that insects and the climate are so destructive, and having no object 

 but the promotion of science, I have determined on sending the bulk 

 of my collections to His Honor the Governor of Bengal, to be dis- 

 posed of in such manner as may appear most likely to render 

 them of public utility. I therefore have this day written to Major 

 Jenkins on the subject, to whom I have forwarded a copy of the list, 

 and have all the specimens ready for dispatch by the first boat I 

 can procure. As the specimens will probably fall into your hands, 

 some account of the localities from which they were procured may 

 not be altogether uninteresting. 



You are aware, that in June 1843, I presented all my Assam and 

 Calcutta collections to Sir William Jackson Hooker through Major 

 Jenkins : whether Sir William has ever made any use of them or 

 not, I have not heard. I did not reserve a single species of my 

 former collection but immediately commenced again, numbering the 

 species in lineal order, heading with the class and order when I 

 could determine them, as — 



" No. I. Exog : Monopet : Labiata. 



Ovary Super : Scroph : 



Torenia Linn. 



Stem 4-sided, erect, coloured. 



Leaves opposite, alternately one smaller than the other. 



Cheriedeo and Hills, June 1843." 



