20 
HISTORY OF THE BOTANICAL 
ordinary vasculum is, too, a great disadvantage in tropical countries, for 
black objects radiate heat so quickly that flowers and the young parts of 
plants are soon shrivelled up. A large covered basket lined with some 
material to prevent the free circulation of air is very useful. During a 
stay of a few days I obtained nearly 50 different species of plants.'' 1 
A s the specimens were not sufficiently dry to pack up before the 
party left Aden, Lunt took them with him to Makalla. 
“ I succeeded, " says Lunt in his “ Journal, ” “ in drying them before 
the time came for our departure from that place, and left them there 
until our return. When we returned I was disappointed and irritated 
to find that they had been stolen, and that nothing could be done to 
recover the plants. Consequently the numbering here will commence 
at 47. 
“ On returning to Aden I set to work to reform the collection. 
I found almost all those I had lost, and in addition some extra 
specimens/'’ 2 
Bent's expedition was successful, but the opposition of the natives 
limited the extent of the explorations. The party retraced Hirsoh's 
route very closely, both in coming and going. They made only one 
important deviation from the tracks of predecessors. It was a short 
excursion from Shibam up the Wady Ser, which comes down from the 
north, carrying a little used caravan path from the desert. “ Bent's party 
met with much the same reception as Hirsch : bare tolerance, on 
condition it travelled neither far nor long. Much less able to enter into 
intimate relations with the native society than his predecessor, Bent 
brought back less full and exact information. But his party was the 
better equipped and able to use the camera and take observations." 3 4 
Lunt's botanical collections were excellently prepared and preserved, 
and contain many interesting novelties, including two new genera and 
25 new species from Hadramaut of such genera as Aloe, Adenium, 
Arthrosolen , Littonia , Statice and VelloziaA Even at Aden Lunt 
found several species which had not been observed by other botanists 
in that place. The plants from Hadramaut were named and described 
by J. G. Baker in the Kew Bulletin of 1894. 5 The type specimens, 
together with the plants collected at Aden, are kept at Kew. 
1 Report of W. Lunt on the Hadramaut Expedition. In ms. volume, Herb. Kew, 
entitled : “ Hadramaut, Bent’s Expedition, 1893-94. 
2 Journal of W. Lunt. In ms. volume Herb. Kew. 
8 Hogarth, D. G. : The Penetration of Arabia. London, 1904, p. 220. 
4 Kew Bulletin (1894), p. 194. 
5 Kew Bulletin (1894), p. 328-343. 
