rious novelties. In the mean time, collectors, who took delight
in studying these heautiful productions in their living
state,—Mr B r o d ie , Mr B o r r e r , Mr D i l l w y n , D r H o o k e r ,
Ml- W iG G , Mr T e m p l e t o n , D r D r u m m o n d , Captain C a r m
ic h a e l , Mrs G r i f f i t h s , Miss H u t c h in s , Miss H i l l ,—
made practical ohservatioiis, infinitely more valuable than
even the new acquisitions which from time to time rewarded
their assiduity. I t is not without a feeling of extreme
pleasm-e that, hy means of the present Work, I shall place
in the hands of my fair and intelligent countrywomen, a
guide to some of the wonders of the Great D eep ; nor need
I he ashamed to confess th a t I have kept them in view
throughout the whole undertaking. To them we are indebted
for much of what we know upon the subject. The very
beauty and delicacy of the objects have ever attracted their
a tten tio n ; and who will deny the rationality of th a t admiration
which is expended on the works of an Almighty Hand—
or censure as trifiiiig the collecting of things, even in the absence
of information concerning them, which, if contemplated
as they ought to be, can only tend to refine the mind,
and raise its sentiments. To Mrs G r i f f i t h s , Miss H u t c h in s ,
Miss H i l l , Miss C u t l e r , and Mi-s H a r e , we owe very many
discoveries: the first mentioned lady has received the highest
honour th a t one botanist can bestow on another, in her name
having been conferred on a new genus of Alga hy Professor
A g a r d h , and the following sheets will prove sufficiently how
much advantage I have derived from her assistance and experience.
Miss H u t c h in s has been similarly distinguished
hy Mr R o b e r t B r o w n , who has attached the name of Hwtchin-
sia to a genus of Cruciferous plants. This lady has passed
away from the scene of her usefulness, and I cannot resist the
satisfaction of transcribing an elegant and affectionate tribute
to her memory, from the pen of Mr D aw so n T u r n e r , in the
concluding page of his Historia F u c o r u m “ The length of
time already bestowed upon it (his work) has given rise to
other and more serious sources of r e g r e t: among them none
is so great as the loss of my friends, whose communications
have chiefiy enabled me to render it what it is ; and among
these friends there is assuredly none whom I have, in every
point of view, so much reason to lament as Miss H u t c h in s .
That I have by her untimely death been deprived of a most
able assistant, and th a t Botany has lost a votary, as indefatigable
as she was acute, and as successful as she was indefatigable,
this work bears abundant testimony; and the Licheno-
graphia Britannica, should it ever he published, will do so no
less unequivocally. But few, if any, except myself, can appreciate
her many amialile qualities; her liberality, her pleasure
in commimicatiiig knowledge, her delight in being useful,
the rapture she felt in tracing the works of the Divine
Hand, and the union in her of those virtues, which embellish
and improve mankind. Three years have now elapsed since
she died, and every succeeding year makes me more deeply
feel what I have lost, and how with her is gone a great part
of the pleasure I derived from these pursuits.”
“ In every season of the beauteous year
Her eye was open, and with studious love
Read the divine Creator in his works.
Chiefly in tliee, sweet Sjii'ing, when every nook
Soine latent beauty to her wakeful search
Presented, some sw'eet flower, some virtual plant.
In every native of the hill and vale
She found attraction, and, where beauty fail’d,
Applauded odour or commended use.”
To retu rn from this digression, it remains for me to mention,
that, during the continuance of Mr D aw so n T u r n e r ’s
work, many rare and new sjiecies, which were brought from
the shores of New Holland by Mr R o b e r t B r o w n , were
contrihuted by him—and a number of others, of equal novelty
and interest, hy the E a r l of M o u n t n o r r is and by Mr S a l t ,
from the Red Sea.
On the Continent the Alga have never been without admirers,
belonging to the class of those who communicated
their discoveries to others, or jmhlished them in general Floras
or in the form of articles or memoirs. Among them may be
mentioned in a particular m anner V a h l , C l e m e n t e , F o K S K iL ,