Botany of Socotra

H., W. B.

doi:10.1038/039099a0

Books Received
Published: 29 November 1888

Botany of Socotra

W. B. H.

Nature volume 39, pages 99–100 (1888)Cite this article

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Abstract

UNDER the auspices of the Royal Society of London and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Bayley Balfour proceeded to Socotra early in 1880, accompanied by Mr. A. Scott, a gardener, and joined at Aden by Lieut. Cockburn, for the purpose of investigating the natural history of the island. Originally it was intended that Colonel Godwin-Austen should lead the Expedition, but circumstances prevented him; and the Committee, through Sir Joseph Hooker, thereupon requested Dr. Balfour—who had recently completed an account of the results of his botanical exploration of the Island of Rodriguez—to undertake the task. He had just been appointed to the Botanical Chair in the University of Glasgow, and the duties connected therewith demanded his presence after the middle of April, therefore the duration of the expedition was necessarily very limited, and the time actuaily spent on the island was little more than six weeks, ending on March 30. Nevertheless, the botanical collections included specimens of between five and six hundred species of Phanerogams, besides Cryptogams; though, as might be expected from the hasty manner in which the work had to be performed, and the short season during which the plants were collected, many of the specimens were imperfect. The following spring a party of German naturalists visited the island, among them the distinguished African traveller and botanist, Dr. Schweinfurth, to whom Dr. Balfour sent a catalogue of the plants he himself collected, with the gratifying result presently to be explained.

Botany of Socotra.

By Isaac Bayley Balfour, &c, assisted by other Botanists. Forming Vol. XXXI. of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. (Edinburgh: Grant and Son. London: Williams and Norgate. 1888.)