■V 
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOTANIC DEPARTMENT, SINGAPORE. 
1. During my absence on leave til! July 2 nd, Mr. Fox took sole control of 
the Botanic Gardens, and on my return lie applied for a year’s leave and left in July. 
Mr. J. GOODF.NOUGH who, in accordance with the retrenchment scheme, had 
been discharged from the Department, was taken on temporarily in November as 
Assistant 
. The Herbarium Keeper, TASSIM Daud, was discharged in^ September, and 
Ahmat Kassim was taken on in his place. I he Mandor of the Economic Garden, 
XAVIER, broke down in health, and left at the end of the year. 
Visitors. 
2. The number of visitors to the Gardens was as large as usual, and the Regi- 
mental Band played once or twice a month for a portion ot the year, and proved very 
attractive. 
There were a few cases of theft of flowers, but they were of no great importance, 
and there were no prosecutions. 
Aviaries. 
n The improvements made in the aviaries last year have produced satisfactory 
results; the animals being more thriving and looking better. 
Amono- the additions to the collection of animals were , 
One tigress (Felts tigris ), presented by Mr. D. H. Wise, Acting Resident, 
Pahang - three jackals {Cants aureus ), presented by Captain BROWNE; three orang 
utans (Simla satyrus ), purchased; one honey-bear (Ursus malayanus ), presented; one 
Borneo red monkey (. Semnopithecus sp.), purchased; one Indian mungoose [Her pastes 
grriseus) purchased; three black Celebes monkey (Macacus mger), purchased; two 
kiiancrs (Cervulus muntjac ), purchased; one sparrow hawk ( Accipiter sp.}, presented; 
one Afghan partridge (■ Caccabis chukar ), presented. A deer (Lervus equinus ) was 
born in the Gardens, and a hybrid monkey, by a kra (Macacus simcus) out of a 
beruk (Macacus nemestrinus ) was bred— a very rare occurrence, if indeed it has ever 
happened before. The little animal is growing well and strong. 
F The pair of herons (Ardea sumatrana), which have been so long in the Gardens, 
laid three ego-s as did a box tortoise (Cistudo amboinensis ). A large python 
(Python reticulatus) laid a large number of eggs, apparently unfertile. 
^ The old deer-sheds being very unsatisfactory and in a state of decay, were pulled 
down and a new and stronger enclosure is being built. The constant rain at the close 
of the year prevented the work being finished. 
Pla n t- ho uses. 
4 . The large plant-house needed very extensive repair, as much of the wood- 
work was rotten, and a number of beams were replaced. As in the case of the new 
deer-sheds the rain caused much delay in executing the work, to which was added 
some difficulty in obtaining good timber, as Balau, the best timber now procurable at 
a reasonable rate is getting scarce. 
The orchid-house fell down shortly before my return ; the upper part has been 
renlaced bv an iron structure, and the stages are being replaced with banks of coral- 
Itnne and earth. Most of the old houses and stages have now been reconstructed in 
thU manner wh i c h in many respects is immensely superior to the old plan of planks 
“Tried on DOsts or brickwork pillars. The centre of the stage consists of earth, 
whicffis enclosed by walls of coral rock cut into blocks, and the top is covered with 
• , 
cement. Lawns and Flower-beds. 
These have been kept up to their usual standard during the year, and a 
large number o p terest i,ig plants which flowered for the first time or which 
have sddom flowered here were Gongora maculata Vanda hast, f era, Renanthera 
ha. ; ff „eus Alpinia involucrata, Ricolaia elatior , Loxococcus rupicola, 
Storiet, Cost us g % m g a Willi am si, Garcima Hanburyt , Tncholcena 
Anssoptera < ; troduce d fodder grass 1, Lespedeza Sieboldi (also a fodder 
SZfaeMrl 'myrmecophila, Aristolochia un.ulifolia. 
