112 



Report of the Wiltshire Herbarium. 



incorporating 1 with those at Devizes. When this is done the col- 

 lection will consist of 1048 sheets, illustrating 598 species. There 

 are still a few to be mounted and arranged, by which the collection 

 will be further increased. 



The specimens are arranged on the sheets, and then sent to Kew, 

 to be fastened down in the excellent manner adopted at the Royal 

 Herbarium, where utility is a great point observed. In most cases, 

 the specimens, after being fastened down, have been looked over by 

 one of the authorities there, to detect any errors, and are then re- 

 turned to me. Mr. Britten kindly undertook this task till he left 

 Kew, and since then Mr. Baker has most generously given up the 

 time necessary for this purpose and has most ungrudgingly incurred 

 the trouble of deciding critical points. 



Perhaps I may be permitted to make one remark in connection 

 with the arrangement of the specimens on the sheets. The specimens 

 are merely laid on the spots where they are intended to be fastened 

 down, the locality being inserted where convenient. To prevent 

 the shifting of the specimens during the journey to London, the 

 sheets are packed tightly together, and the specimens thus sometimes 

 become rather adherent to the under side of the sheet above them. 

 Though every care is taken in separating the sheets on their arrival, 

 the specimens do get shifted at times, and sometimes even transferred 

 from their own proper sheet to another. The men who fasten them 

 down, not being botanists, and being instructed to fasten the 

 specimens as they were placed on the papers, naturally put them 

 down as they find them, and thus occasionally (especially among the 

 more delicate specimens) some queer transitions may be detected. 

 As opportunities occur these sheets will be replaced by others. 



The contributors to the collection have hitherto been few in num- 

 ber. Dr. H. Franklin Parsons kindly sent contributions as long as 

 he was resident in the county, and to him the Society is indebted 

 for the majority of the plants from divisions II. and III. Mr. W. 

 A. Clarke, of Chippenham, has also sent contributions from division 

 II., and he alone, I am sorry to say is now the only regular con- 

 tributor. Mr. Cunnington has also sent a few specimens from 

 Devizes. With these exceptions, the collection has been formed by 



