236 
Botany of the A ntarctic Voyage • 
Terror , in the Polar regions of the southern hemisphere, and of the 
general results in reference to Botany.* The several places touched at, 
and more or less explored, are mentioned, until the return of the vessels 
to the Cape of Good Hope in the month of April 1843, after spending 
three summers in the fruitless attempt, notwithstanding the skill and 
valour of the commanding officer and the courage and bravery of the 
crews, to reach the South Pole. Still, the shores of a great continent, 
Victoria Land, clothed with everlasting ice and snow, were discovered 
and traced for upwards of three hundred miles. These exhibited a moun¬ 
tain region of great elevation, from 9,000 to 12,000 feet (one of these 
mountains an extinct volcano), and the latitude of 774 was attained, 
several degrees beyond what had been reached by any other navigator. 
Captain (now Sir .lames Clark) Ross brought his ships home in safety 
in October 1843, after a four years’ absence, and the collections of Na¬ 
tural History were all deposited in the British Museum, where it was our 
privilege to see them. ‘Without such an inspection, it would be difficult 
to form an idea of their extent and value : they reflect the highest credit 
on the officers of the expedition. No small part of these collections is 
constituted by the Herbarium ; and so numerous are the species, and 
such is deemed their interest, to the cause of science, that upon a repre¬ 
sentation being made to Sir Robert Peel by the Lords of the Admiralty, 
supported by a powerful recommendation from Mr. Brown and Dr. 
Buckland, that distinguished Individual caused a grant to be made from 
the Treasury in aid of the publication of such portions of the Herbarium 
as are considered the most valuable; and the Botanist of the Expedi¬ 
tion. Dr. Joseph Dalton Hooker, is charged by the Admiralty with the 
superintendence and preparation of the work. Messrs. Reeve, Brothers, 
Lithographers in Natural History, and Publishers, King William-street, 
London, authors of a very beautiful work on Shells, undertake the pub¬ 
lication, which is to appear in monthly parts, till the whole is completed 
in 5 vols. royal quarto, with 500 beautifully executed lithographic plates 
of new or imperfectly known species; coloured and plain. The liberal 
assistance of government enables the uncoloured copies to be offered at 
the very low cost of 5s. each part (8 plates, and 2 sheets of closely 
printed letter-press); and even the alluminated copies (coloured from 
drawings or notes made on the spot), at the scarcely less moderate sum 
of 8s. each number. 
The Floras of many of the continents and islands visited are too well 
known to require that they should be even noticed here. It lias been 
thought better to render those of the less explored regions as perfect as 
the present knowledge of their Botany will allow; and to divide the pub¬ 
lication into three separate and distinct portions, each complete in itself; 
as follows :— 
Part I. Flora Antarctica. 
This is intended to embrace a complete history of the Vegetation of 
the Antarctic Regions, namely, such lands as are situated between the 
parallels of 50° and 78° south, the utmost limit that has been attained 
by navigators. It will comprise an account of the plants of Lord Auck¬ 
land’s and Campbell’s Islands, of Kerguelen’s and the Falkland Islands, 
of Terra del Fuego, and of all the south circumpolar regions. Amongst 
other novelties will be included accounts of the Callage of Kerguelen’s 
Island, a plant entirely new' to science, though discovered arid benefi¬ 
cially used during Captain Cook’s voyage; the Tiissac and other grasses 
* This very interesting account will appear in the next number of the 
Tasmanian Journal. 
