FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNiEAN SOCIETY. V 



lations ; and his still unfinished monograph of " The Palms of British 

 India," which promises to be a highly important contribution to our 

 knowledge of a group hitherto almost a sealed book to European 

 Botanists. 



" But the great object of his life, that for which all his other labours 

 were but a preparation, was the publication of a General Scientific 

 Flora of India, a task of immense extent, labour and importance. To 

 the acquisition of materials for this task, in the shape of collections, 

 dissections, drawings and descriptions, made under the most favour- 

 able circumstances, he had devoted twelve years of unremitted exer- 

 tion. His own collections, (not including those formed in Cabool 

 and the neighbouring countries) he estimated at 2500 species from the 

 Khasiya Hills, 2000 from the Tenasserim provinces, 1000 from the 

 province of Assam, 1200 from the Himalaya range in the Mishmee 

 country, 1 700 from the same great range in the country of Bootan, 

 1 000 from the neighbourhood of Calcutta, and 1 200 from the Naga 

 Hills at the extreme east of Upper Assam, from the valley of Hook- 

 hoong, the district of Mogam, and from the tract of the Irrawadi 

 between Mogam and Ava. Even after making large deductions from 

 the sum-total of these numbers on account of the forms common to 

 two or more of the collections, the amount of materials thus brought 

 together by one man must be regarded as enormous. The time was 

 approaching when he believed that he could render these vast col- 

 lections subservient to the great end which he had in view. He 

 had some time since issued an invitation to many eminent botanists 

 in Europe to co-operate with him in the elaboration of particular 

 families ; and he purposed after a few years' additional residence in 

 India to return to England with all his materials, and to occupy 

 himself in giving to the world the results of his unwearied labours. 

 But this purpose was not destined to be fulfilled, his collections 

 have passed by his directions into the hands of the East India Com- 

 pany, and there can be no doubt, from the well-known liberality of 

 the Directors, which this Society in particular has so often expe- 

 rienced, that they will be so disposed of by that enlightened body as 

 to fulfil at once the demands of science and the last wishes of the 

 faithful and devoted servant by whom they were formed. It is hoped 

 too, that the most important of his unpublished materials, both in 

 drawings and manuscripts, will be given to the world in a manner 

 worthy of the author and of the rank in science which he filled." — 

 Proceedings of the Linncean Society, No. xxv, 1845. 



