BY E. D. MERRILL. 
103 
Linnaeus’ 4 Flora Zeylanica ’; in 1741-55 Bumphius’ 
4 Herbarium Amboinense ’ (written, however, before the 
year 1700) ; in 1678-1703 Bheede’s 4 Hortus Malabaricus’; 
in 1790 Loureiro’s 4 Flora Cochinchinensis ’; in 1704 
Cam ell’s 4 Herbarium aliarumque stirpium in Insula Luzone 
Philippinarum primaria nascentium ’; and many other 
similar works. Throughout the early period of European 
colonial history in the Orient there was no important per¬ 
manent trading station or colony established in Borneo, 
and as a result no Bornean botanical material reached 
Europe at the time various botanists were commencing to 
devote their attention to the Malayan flora, and no local 
botanists were developed as in Amboina, the Philip¬ 
pines, &c. 
The first large collection secured in Borneo seems to have 
been that made by the Dutch botanist, P. W. Korthals, in 
about the year 1836. Korthals commenced publishing on 
his Bornean material in the year 1839, issuing a series of 
papers between the years 1839-54, in which he described a 
large number of new species from Borneo. Since that 
time many botanists and collectors have explored Borneo, 
among whom may be cited Beccari, Motley, Low, Lobb, 
Teysmann, Ridley, Creagh, Haviland, Shelford, Hewitt, 
Moulton, Winkler, Hallier, Nieuwenhuis, Jaheri, Schlechter, 
Bishop Hose, Brooks, Foxworthy, and Miss Gibbs. In 
spite of the large amount of collecting that has been done, 
Borneo probably stands to-day as imperfectly known 
botanically—perhaps more imperfectly known—than any 
large island in the entire Malay Archipelago, not excepting 
Sumatra or New Guinea. 
The indications are that the island has an immensely rich 
flora, and future exploration will certainly greatly extend the 
list of known species. At the present time probably less than 
three thousand species of plants in all groups are definitely 
known from this large island. It is estimated that the 
Philippine Archipelago, when fairly comprehensively ex¬ 
plored, will present no fewer than 10,000 species of flower¬ 
ing plants and ferns. The comparatively small Island of 
Java has at least 5000 species of flowering plants alone; 
and there is every reason to believe that the Island of 
Borneo, with its enormous area, its great range in altitude, 
its high humidity, and its luxuriant vegetation will present 
at least as many distinct species as the entire Philippine 
Archipelago, and at least twice as many as its small neigh¬ 
bour Java. 
