keine Standortsangaben oder dann nur solche, die viel zu allgemein 



gehalten sind Ja selbst bis weit in das XIX. Jahrhundert lasst 



die sachverstandige Etikettierung der Herbarien noch vielfach sehr 

 zu wiinschen iibrig. Fiir eine in jeder Hinsicht brauchbare Verwertung 

 einer Belegpflanze bedarf es zum mindesten einer genauen Angabe 

 von Standortsverhaltnissen und Fundort sowie des Sammlers und des 



Datums Bei Gebirgspflanzen ist die Hohenangabe durchaus 



erforderlich". 



T r e u b and his successor to the directorate of the Buitenzorg 

 Botanical Institute, Dr. ]. C. Koningsberger, may justly claim the 

 honour, not only of having acknowledged these very serious short- 

 comings and the necessity of improvements, but also of having 

 strongly supported extensive researches on the distribution of plants 

 and the circumstances under which they were growing. Most import- 

 ant though still only partly elaborated data have been collected 

 during the latest years by two divisions of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, vid. the Forest Research Station and the Museum for Economic 

 Botany, both in Buitenzorg. These two divisions have taken over an 

 important part of the task of the Buitenzorg Botanical Institute 

 ('s Lands Plantentuin) by instituting on a large scale well-conducted 

 investigations on the forest flora and on the useful plants of the 

 Dutch East Indies. All these researches have tended to increase and 

 deepen our knowledge of the flora, but by making new collections 

 the fatal consequences of former errors cannot always be eliminated. 

 Treub in 1888 1), Penzig in 1902 2), Ernst in 1907 :i ) already 

 pointed out the difficulties connected with a botanical exploration 

 of Krakatao, difficulties greatly increased by the unfavourable situa- 

 tion of the island in the midst of the often rather turbulent Sunda- 

 straits, far from the ports Batavia and Tandjong Priok. Small native 

 sailing-vessels, the only ones available throughout the year without 

 being too costly, succeed in some seasons only with much trouble 

 in reaching Krakatao or cannot reach it at all. This was experienced 

 in 1921 by a Swedish botanist, Dr. Olof Arrhenius, who, starting 

 from the west-coast of |ava, made use of this kind of craft, but 

 after three weary days had to go back without having been able 

 to effect his purpose. Formerly the only means of reaching Krakatao 

 with certainty were small government steam-ships, which were to be 

 used after special permission of the authorities, but these vessels 



!) Ann. lard. Bot. Buitenzorg, 1e Serie VII (1888), p. 215. 



-) Ann. lard. Bot. Buitenzorg, XVIII (1902), p. 96. 



3 ) Ernst, Neue Flora Vulkaninsel Krakatau (1907), p. 33. 



