from May 1, 1830, to April 30, 1840. 



No. 31.— Oaxaca, June 17th, 1839.— "On the 27th ultimo I 

 " again started on an excursion to the south coast, after leaving 

 f< with Messrs. R. Smith and Co. the results of my researches 

 " from the north coast ; they consist of six boxes H. S. 27 to 32, 

 " and contain 83 species of plants, viz., 81 of Epiphytes and two 

 " of Cerei. They left this for Vera Cruz on the 3d instant, so that 

 " you may look out for their arrival very soon. My last trip to 

 " the south coast has been as successful as the one to the north 

 " coast ; I found about 60 species of Orchidacere, making together 

 " 140 collected already in this neighbourhood. They will occupy 

 " other six boxes, and start for Vera Cruz probably at the end 

 " of this week. I defer giving the list of the stations until my 

 " researches in this neighbourhood are closed. The next excursion 

 " I undertake will be to the Chinantla, and after that I shall go on a 

 " bulb excursion, of which I am told there is a great variety, so 

 " that I may still be detained here about two months. You may 

 " easily imagine that I find it difficult to separate myself from this 

 " beautiful country ; but I have a hope held out to me by Mr. 

 " Skinner, of whom I heard lately, that other glorious fields await 

 " me in Guatemala, and I also believe that it will be indifferent to 

 " the Society to receive good things, whether they be from Mexico 

 " or Guatemala. The collection of seeds is making but a slow pro- 

 " gress, the best time is towards the end of the rainy season, which 

 " has set in now ; the same may be said of the herbarium. To my 

 " no small surprise I see in your letter of the 15th of March last, 

 " that the collections from Tampico have arrived in better order 

 " than was expected ; I was in great fear that the Tillandsia 

 " should be completely rotten, and I only used it for want of 

 " other packing material. It will be important for me to know 

 " which of the various packing materials preserved the plants best, 

 " taking also the time they were packed up into consideration, to 

 " guide me in future packings, also if any of Cypripedium in the 

 " clayballs have been saved." 



