3 
CLASSES FOR SCHOOL TEACHERS 
At the request of the Inspector of Schools, Singapore and Labuan, 
Mr. Corner again held a series of classes on Malayan Plant Life for teachers 
in local schools. The classes were held on Friday afternoons at the Singapore 
Chinese Girls School and were attended by 35 teachers. The series consisted 
of twenty periods of 1% hours each. As last year, the course was designed 
to give an introduction to the study of local flowering plants with the 
minimum of technicality. 
A second course, in Systematic Botany, was held at the Botanic Gardens 
on Saturday mornings. This was attended by the twelve most successful 
teachers of the preceding year’s elementary course. Fifteen classes were 
held, each of to 2% hours, and six excursions to different parts of the 
island : the Reservoir jungle, Bukit Timah, the coast at Labrador, the West 
Coast Road and Mandai Road. The classes at the Botanic Gardens were 
devoted entirely to the dissection and drawing of the flow’ers and fruits of as 
many common plants, in as many families, as time permitted, care being 
given to include those most suited for teaching botany in schools. These 
classes, it is hoped, have made a real start in the teaching of botany in 
Malaya. Mr. Corner’s book, which as mentioned elsewhere in this Report 
is in active preparation, should greatly assist the development of this 
teaching. 
HERBARIUM WORK AND OTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
Mr. Henderson, Curator of the Herbarium, was absent on leave during 
the greater part of the year. While on leave, he spent a month on duty 
at Kew, chiefly devoted to a continuation of his study of the genus Eugenia. 
Eugenia is a large genus, some 140 species being recorded in the Peninsula, 
many of them common trees (known locally as Jambu, Krian, Kelat, etc.). 
The distinctions between the species (which are often closely allied) have in 
many cases not been adequately recorded, with the result that there has been 
much confusion and doubt about the correct names of many local species. 
Another cause of confusion has been the fact that some species of wide 
geographical range have received different names in different countries. 
In order to clear up the confusion it is necessary first to study, the type 
specimens upon which our local species are based, and also to study authentic 
specimens of species from neighbouring countries, India, Burma, Siam, 
Indo-China, and the Malaysian region generally. Many type specimens 
(chiefly from the collections of Waixich and Grifith) are in the Kew 
herbarium; considerable collections from the neighbouring countries are also 
available. Mr. Henderson was able to check the names of many of the 
local species, and to establish the identity of some of them with species 
described from neighbouring countries. For example, a common Singapore 
species which could not be certainly named from published descriptions was 
found to be Eugenia fusiformis, described by Duthie from a Malacca speci¬ 
men in 1878; it was also found that the same species had been re-named 
later in the Philippines. The genus Eugenia is particularly difficult, not only 
from the great profusion of species, but because some of them seem to be very 
variable while others are not, so that the study of considerable numbers of 
specimens is necessary. Thanks are due to the Director of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Kew, and to the staff of the Herbarium for facilities granted to 
Mr. Henderson, and for assistance during the course of his work. 
Mr. Corner spent the greater part of the year working in the general 
herbarium, preparing for the publication of a book on the common trees of 
