HISTORY OF INTRODUCTION OF EXOTIC FERNS. 15 
recorded in my first Enumeration as coming from 
Dr. Wallich, the only Superintendent of the Calcutta 
garden who has the credit of having introduced any. 
Indeed, with the exception of those from Ceylon, Kew 
has received very few Ferns from Asia and the 
adjacent islands, most of those now in cultivation 
having been introduced by nurserymen or through 
Continental gardens. Two or three were brought 
from Hong-Kong, in 1850, by Mr. J. C. Braine, 
including one which proved to be a new genus, and 
to this I gave the name of Brained in honour of its 
introducer. 
Another tropical island in the Eastern hemisphere, 
whence large additions have been made to the Fern 
collection at Kew, is the Mauritius. The Botanic 
Garden in that island has long enjoyed the reputation 
of possessing a fine set of plants ; but until the year 
1852, when it came under the able management 
of the present Director, Mr. James Duncan, very 
little correspondence was kept up with the gardens 
of Europe. Mr. Duncan has, at considerable risk, 
ransacked the forests of the island in quest principally 
of Ferns, and has been very successful in transmitting 
living plants to this country, enriching our gardens 
with many fine species. 
The "Synopsis Filicum Capensis” of Pappe and 
Bawson shows that the Fern Flora of Southern Africa 
is extremely rich; but up to the present time we 
possess scarcely a dozen Cape species in our gardens, 
and most of them have been raised from spores. 
Alsophila Capensis and Lomaria Capensis were intro- 
duced in 1845 by Mr. Charles Zeyher, as also were 
Lastrea athmantica and Gyathea Dregei from Natal 
by Mr. J. Plant. 
