TO DR. R. WIGHT. 



lix 



quite distinct from Siebolds Japan ones. There will be some draw- 

 ings, as the paper is to appear in the Physical Researches of the 

 Asiatic Society. 



Lower Circular Road, August 16, 1844. 



Have you yet been able to ascertain the palm that gives the seeds 

 you sent me with ruminate albumen, as I think it will probably be a 

 new species of Caryota. I have a copy of Jussieus Euphorbiaceae. 

 The order requires revision like all others, I have many of the genera, 

 and Malacca is especially rich in them. With you, I like tables : how 

 deficient Endlichers genera is in this respect : a book on genera or 

 species should always give analysis of characters, so that the eye can 

 at once lay hold of the plant you want, or its nearest allies. To 

 wade over page after page of characters without a resting point, is 

 most tedious and unsatisfactory. 



I have not yet looked at Neesia, the genus has something to say 

 analogously to Sapoteae, having the leaves of a Mimosops in some 

 measure. 



By the bye, the black dye of the Shan country, turns out to be a 

 Diospyros, whether new or not, I dont yet know. I am going to draw 

 up a paper on it, and the Gutta Percha, which is from a Chry- 

 sophyllum. Just now I have in hand some Chusan plants. 1 give 

 several new genera of Zanoninos, Corylopsis, Ixonanthes, Tristania 

 and Mastersia. With regard to Epithinia, I find that Jack, in a copy 

 of the Malayan Miscellany had corrected the oversight of its stipulas ; 

 this autograph corrected copy was quite passed over, and I found it by 

 chance among some loose papers, in the Garden library. 



I shall go on now with the Palms, I have done nothing to the 

 third and last part, I begin to day the Malacca Terebinthales distri- 

 bution: the collection is rich, especially in Mangifera, of which 

 however I have perhaps not more than half. 



My subsequent straits plans are comprehensive. I intend stu li ving 

 hard, one or two, of the grand points to be solved, and in the interim, 

 publishing the new genera of my" herbarium, prefaced by tables of 

 each, and short analyses of the climates of each country or district to 

 conclude with generic sketches in tables. This will take me to 



