24. On the occasion of the state visit of Dr. Zakir Hussain. Vice- 
President of India, a gift of two mature orchid plants was made to His 
Excellency on 14th October. 
25. Orchid blooms were made available for the Prime-Minister’s 
overseas visit to the United Kingdom and India for presentation to Her 
Majesty the Queen, the wife of the British Prime-Minister, Mrs. Harold 
Wilson, the President of India and the Prime-Minister of India. 
BOTANICAL RESEARCH 
XIX. PLANT COLLECTING 
26. Three major expeditions were undertaken: Dr. Chew Wee-Lek 
Botanist, collected limestone plants in the Fourth Division, Sarawak, with 
personnel of the Sarawak Forest Department; Mr. H. M. Burkill, Director, 
joined the Fifth Thai-Danish Expedition working over the islands and western 
coastline of Peninsular Thailand mainly to collect marine algae- Mr 
A. G. Alphonso, Curator, visited the Kinabalu area to collect plants, prin- 
cipally orchids, for cultivation. These collections yielded some 897 numbers 
for the Singapore Herbarium, and 203 numbers (737 plants) for the Gardens. 
Duplicate materials of all these were obtained and are in the process of 
distribution under the exchange programme. The generous assistance of 
the Forest Departments of Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah, and the National 
Park Board, Sabah, and of Mr. G. Seidenfaden, Professor G. Larsen and 
Mr. Tern Smitinand, leaders of the Fifth Thai-Danish Expedition is gratefully 
acknowledged. 
27. A number of minor expeditions of a few days duration were made, 
and details of this collecting work are given in Appendix VII. There were,* 
in addition, many single day forays too numerous to list. 
XX. EXCHANGE AND ACQUISITIONS 
28. The Herbarium profited by a larger intake of material (6 096 
specimens) on exchange than was sent out (3,137 specimens), due largely 
to generous receipts from the Forest Departments of Lae. the British Solomon 
Islands Protectorate, Sabah and Sarawak. With a regular annual acquisition 
trom these sources, the Singapore Herbarium is rapidly becoming valuably 
rich in specimens front Eastern Malaysia (political) and east Malesia 
(geographical). Details of receipts and despatches on exchange with 38 other 
institutions are tabulated in Appendix VI. The Herbarium mounters prepared 
19,068 specimens, and 15,509 sheets were indexed and laid in. 
XXI. LOANS OF HERBARIUM MATERIAL 
29. Loans of herbarium materials to and from 26 other institutions 
were made during the year, either for the prosecution of our own research 
or in collaboration with other specialists. The very large number of sheets 
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