232 
Instructions to the 
containing fossil remains need scarcely be alluded to; and if 
any be discovered, their high interest, as compared with the 
extraordinary fossils brought by Sir Thomas Mitchell from 
Australia, is certain. No coal plants have yet been sent from 
the coal strata of Van Diemen’s Land. 
Section III. BOTANY AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
The duty of the botanist should be, to collect specimens and 
preserve evidence concerning every department of Botany and 
Vegetable Physiology, not merely in illustration of these sub¬ 
jects as branches of science, but with reference to purposes of 
general utility. 
The vegetation of the Antarctic regions, and of the most 
southern countries which the expedition may visit, should be 
an object of especial attention; for however sterile and unin¬ 
viting a place may appear to be, it is most desirable to know 
exactly what plants those regions produce. Here, therefore, 
and at all other places, as complete an herbarium as possible 
should be formed. At Kerguelen’s Land, of which the Flora 
is so little known, this is especially necessary; even at St. 
Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, and Hobart Town, carefully 
as the botany of these places has been examined, a dried collec¬ 
tion of plants should be made, especially of the lower orders of 
phaenogamous vegetation and of aquatic and submersed plants, 
whether of fresh or salt water. Fungi also, and Rhizanths, 
should be diligently sought for, and all those minute species of 
cryptogaraic plants which are parasites. 
Though but little accession to our knowledge of Systematic 
Botany can be anticipated at any of the principal stations of 
the expedition, many new and interesting facts maybe collected 
in Physiological Botany, if anomalous forms of vegetation 
be examined ; as concerning these so little that is positive has 
as yet been ascertained in foreign countries. Collections should 
be made of the stems of Casuarinns, Urticaceous trees, and of 
twining woody plants, the internal structure of which is fre¬ 
quently at variance with the ordinary plan of vegetable form¬ 
ation. Diligent search should also be made for cases of the 
occurrence of the embryo buds of Dutrochet. It is probable 
that attention skilfully directed to these last productions will 
throw light upon some of the most obscure points of Vegetable 
Physiology. Most of the specimens of this kind may be pre¬ 
served in a dry state; but as some will require to be kept 
moist, it is requisite, for this purpose, that the botanist should 
be supplied with bottles, jars, acetic acid, and spirit. 
Attention should be especially directed to the distribution of 
remarkable species in each country, regard being paid, in par¬ 
ticular, to the elevations at which they are found, and the soils 
which they seem to prefer, where preference is observable. 
Connected with this topic are the limits to which cultivated 
