SECOND FLOOR. 
67 
Mr. W. Gr. Smith. These plants could not be dried so as to 
give a fair idea of their form ; faithful coloured drawings have 
therefore been employed for this part of the series. 
The portion devoted to the use of the scientific student con- Herbarium, 
sists mainly of the great Herbarium of Vascular Plants. This 
is a collection of plants, fastened on single sheets of folio 
paper, representing, as far as it has been possible to obtain 
them, first, every species of plant living on the earth, and 
then the distribution of each species on the surface of the 
earth. The various species are collected under their respec- 
tive genera, and these are arranged in their IsTatural Orders ; 
the whole are systematically classified, beginning with the 
Ranunculacece, and going down to the Vascular Cryptogams. 
The Herbarium of Cellular Plants (Mosses, Liverworts, Algae, 
Lichens and Fungi) is in a separate room entering from the 
head of the staircase in the hall. 
The foundation of this great Herbarium was the collection of Historical 
Sir Joseph Banks, consisting of the plants obtained by himself {jj^gg^^^^ ^ 
and Dr, Solander in their voyage round the world with Captain barium. 
Cook, and of numerous series from all quarters of the globe 
presented to him or purchased by him. He bequeathed all his Joseph 
botanical collections to the Trustees of the British Museum in 
1820, reserving to Eobert Brown, in whose charge they had 
been for years, the use of them during his lifetime. Mr. Brown 
transferred them to the Trustees of the Museum in 1827, and 
was appointed the first Keeper of the Department. The yearly 
additions since 1827 have been so extensive that the Banksian 
Collections form now but a small proportion of the whole 
Herbarium. In a brief notice it is impossible to give a correct 
idea of the richness of this Herbarium. Among the principal 
collections contained in it may be mentioned those of Clayton, 
Roemer, Miller, Brown, Bowie and Cunningham, Gardner, 
Nuttall, Horsfield, Konig, Martin, Masson, Wilson, Hampe, 
Broome, Seemann, Welwitsch, Salt, Miers, Hance, and Triana. 
It includes also authentic specimens received from Loureiro, 
Gronovius, Tournefort, Jacquin, Aublet, Ptuiz and Pavon, Per- 
rottet, and many others. 
There is a separate Herbarium of British plants, based on the Herbarium of 
collections formed by Sowerby in the preparation of his great ^"^^sh Plants. 
F 2 
