OBSERVATIONS ON ILLUSTRATIONS, BANKS AND SOLANDER PLANTS. 35 



only place (Botany Bay — called by Oook Stingray Harbour) 

 in modern New Soutl) Wales visited by the expedition is a 

 suburb of Sydney. This voyage, therefore, has special 

 interest for us, and it would be regrettable if the appear- 

 ance of this work were ignored by Australian scientific men. 



Through the good offices of Mr. Britten, the Trustees of 

 the British Museum recently presented nearly 600 specimens 

 collected by Banks and Solander to the National Herbarium, 

 Sydney. Many of them are depicted in the work before us. 



Mr. Britten's "Introduction" is very interesting. It 

 describes what preparations had been made by Banks for 

 an extensive work to be illustrated by many hundreds of 

 plates and how the issue of it fell through, partly because 

 of Solander's death in 1782 and partly on account of Banks' 

 devotion to his duties as President of the Royal Society. 

 Then follows some description of the various MSS connected 

 with the voyage, including Solander's notes on " Plantae 

 Novas Hollandise " which are in two volumes (small quarto) 

 and are in the British Museum. 



" The Australasian collections are represented by 412 sketches; 

 from these 362 finished drawings were prepared, of which 340 

 were engraved. From the copper plates of these, the plates illus- 

 trating this volume have been lithographed ; they represent 328 

 of the engravings, most of the remainder being unfinished or 

 imperfect representations. Three of the drawings of which no 

 plates exist — Tribulus Solandri, Pleiogynium Solandri, and 

 Myrmecodia Beccarii — being of special interest, were drawn on 

 stone by the late Robert Morgan, and raise the number of plants 

 represented to 331." 



That the copper plates of the present work should have 

 remained in the British Museum unpublished for nearly 130 

 years is a remarkable occurrence, and shows how leisurely 

 the progress of British science can be. While grateful for 

 its belated appearance it seems difficult to believe that this 

 most regrettable delay has been unavoidable. 



