collection there which is now the most extensive in the world, 
and the commencement would thus be made of an accurate 
catalogue of the contents of the Museum over the way. On 
the other hand, the examination of the original Types of 
Bory, Bojer and other eminent Botanists who had labored 
on these shores could not fail to prove instructive and inter- 
esting to European Botanists who congregated at Kew from 
all quarters — De Candolle him self having spent several months 
there last year. It would moreover enable his venerable friend 
Sir "William Hooker, to advise how far the materials amass- 
ed here, together with those he has already acquired at 
Kew, would justify the publication of a “Flora” of the Co- 
lony ; for that purpose he would not hesitate to ask the 
Legislature for the necessary vote of .€300 or £400 when the 
proper time arrived, and he trusted that the ground-work 
would be found to have been laid in the manuscripts of a late 
eminent member of that Society, just presented to Kew by 
his Widow. He remembered that the late Dr. Ayres in a 
letter to Dr. Mueller which he saw before leaving Melbourne, 
stated that he had then completed the desetiption of six 
hundred species not including the Ferns. It was worth their 
while to consider likewise whether the publication of a Fauna 
of Mauritius might not be much facilitated, and the Museum 
at the same time enriched, by exchanging duplicate speci- 
mens of Birds, Insects and Fishes with the British Museum 
and other kindred institutions in Europe. He believed it 
would be found that much less was known at home than was 
generally supposed of some of the commonest families in the 
Island, such as the Lacertse, Crustacea 1 , Mollusca Src. No 
doubt a good deal yet remained to be explored also in the 
Dependencies of Mauritius notwithstanding that, as men- 
tioned in the Report, advantage had been taken of the recent 
cruise of II. M. S. Rapid to send a collector from the Museum 
among them. In a brief visit of only a few hours’ duration 
to Rodrigues, one of their members, Mr. Edward Newton 
had not only disintered the fossil bones of what he considered 
