204 



with full consent that it should he puhlished with my own. The list contains one hundred and nine 

 species, of which thirty-eight have not yet heen recorded as growing in these islands, in any publi- 

 cations with which I am acquainted. 



The first naturalists who visited the Kurile Islands were G. W. Steller and S. P. Kraseheninni- 

 kof. They crossed over from Kamtschatka about 1740. either together or separately, and collected 

 in the islands of Shumshu and Paramushir. 1 Of their botanical collections, the larger part was 

 worked over and published by Pallas. Some of their sea-weed collections are mentioned in S. T. 

 Gmelin's Historia Fucorum. 2 



In 1788, Merk, a doctor in Irkutsk, who accompanied, as naturalist, the expedition to the Northern 

 Pacific under Comm. Billings, made collections in some of the northern Kuril es. Of his collections, 

 a part is still preserved in the Fischer Herbarium, and also in the Willdenow Herbarium. They were 

 made known chiefly by the labors of Pallas and Rudolph. The results of the study of the latter 

 were published in the writings of Georgia 



LangsdorfF under Krusenstern (1803-1806), and Chamisso under Kotzebue (1815-1818) seem also 

 to have made brief visits to some of the northern Kuriles during their ciuise in the N. Pacific* 



Most of the later collectors wore officers of the Russian surveying ships. In 1833, Baron Wrangell 

 visited Urup and made some collections of its plants. These specimens are now in the Herbarium 

 of the Academy in St. Petersburg. The only collector who made a prolonged tour among these 

 islands, collecting plants on Shumshu, Parainushir and Urup, was Vosnesenski, the late curator of the 

 Zoological Museum of the Academy, in 1844. 5 



Orloff, a Russian naval officer, who is better known as a collector in the northeastern part of 

 Manchuria, 1849-1850, collected also in the Kuriles. 6 



It must be borne in mind that, on account of strong currents, dense fogs and want of harbors (es- 

 pecially in the northern Kuriles) , navigation among these islands is rendered very dangerous, and 

 landing on their shores almost impossible, unless favored with unusually calm weather. Therefore the 

 visits of these collectors were generally limited to a few hours, or, at most, to a day, at one place. 

 Under such unfavorable physical conditions, it is not surprising that in spite of the zeal of many of 

 the collectors who have visited these uninviting shores, we have after all comparatively little knowl- 

 edge of the vegetation of these islands. 



In the summer of 1884, while I was travelling on the northeastern coast of Yezo, an unexpected 

 opportunity for visiting some of the southern Kuriles was offered me. When I reached the harbor 

 of Nemuro on the 27th of July, I found a small steamer on the point of stalling for Shikotan, Etorofu, 

 and Urup. With scarcely any time for necessary preparation, I went on board the Kyorin-maru ac- 

 companied by Mr. N. Kindnichi, the head-gardener of the Botanic Garden of Sapporo Agricultural 

 College, who greatly assisted me in collecting plants during the whole trip. About noon of the next 

 day we were at the Shakotan harbor on the northern coast of the island of Shikotan. In this place 

 we collected most assiduously for two hours and a half. The next day, a little before noon, we reached 

 a small fishing cove on the northern coast of Etorofu, called Furubetsu. From that place we started 

 at once on foot for Shana, another fishing station situated on the same side of the coast about twenty 

 miles distant, and the best harbor of the whole island. The country which we passed through during 



'Kraschentnnikof, S. P. ; The History of Kamtschatkaand 

 the Kurilski Islands (original in Russian, 1754-1755). 

 English transl. by James Grieve, p. 37. Gloucester, 1764. 

 Pallas; Flora Rossioa, p. m (Introduction). 



2 Bongard, M. H. G.; Historical Sketch of the Progress 

 of Botany in Russia. ( Hooker's Companion to the Botan- 

 ical Magazine, Vol. i, p. 177; 1835). 



3 Sauer, M. ; An Account of a Geographical and Astro- 

 nomical Expedition to the Northern parts of Russia, etc., 

 under Comm. J. Billings, in 1785-1794. London, 1802. 



Linnsea, vr, p. 574. Georgi, Beschr. Russ. Reiches, 



ill, 4, p. 619. 



4 Regel, PI. Radd. p. 242. Prof. Maxiinowicz informs 



me that Chamisso visited these islands. 



5 These facts I owe to Prof. Maxiinowicz. 



"Herder, F. von; Biographische Notizen iiber einige in 

 den Plantae Rnddeanae genannte Sammler und Antoren. 



(Engler, Bot. Jahrbucher, ix (1887) p. 443. Plants; 



Radd. iv, 1, p. 232. 



