Hints to Travellers, Scientific and General, Vol. 2 / Tenth edition, revised and corrected

by Royal Geographical Society

7. Fleshy Tubers.—Fleshy and thick tubers are best sent in boxes, wrapped in slightly moist materials, such as cocoa-nut fibre, peat, or leaf mould.

8. Living Plants.—As a general rule, these require to be established in pots or boxes for some time before being packed for transmission. They travel best in what are called Wardian cases; but an ordinary wooden box covered with a glass top, and with sufficient moisture in the soil and air to prevent excessive evaporation, is found to answer the purpose. The cases should be kept on deck under some protection from the direct heat of the sun. Tropical plants should be despatched so as to reach England during the summer months. At other seasons they are liable to perish from cold.

9. Succulent Plants, such as cacti, aloe, houseleeks, &c., survive for a long time if packed without earth in a perfectly dry box, with sufficient openings for ventilation.

10. Small plants with woody roots and cuttings of larger species of plants from the north or south temperate zones often travel successfully when merely packed with a little soil, slightly moist, about the roots, and a wrapping of damp moss, or similar substance, tied up in thick paper or canvas. There is, however, much risk of failure in these cases where, on the homeward voyage, it is necessary to pass through the tropics.

As a general rule, plants are more often injured by excess of moisture than by being sent too dry.

It is desirable to make use of every favourable opportunity for sending botanical collections of all kinds to England, as in hot countries they are always exposed to risk of injury.

It is scarcely necessary to mention that living plants, as well as seeds, and bulbs, should be placed in the hands of skilful gardeners after reaching this country. The chance of preserving interesting specimens is commonly much greater when they are sent to botanic gardens than when entrusted to private cultivators. In all cases information as to the soil and climate of the native home of the plant is a necessary guide to proper treatment.

Fossils.—The collection of fossils and minerals (except in the case of the discovery of new localities for valuable metals) is not to be recommended to the traveller, if he is not a geologist. Fossils from an unexplored country are of little use unless the nature and order of superposition of the strata in which they are found can be at the same time investigated. In the cases, however, of recent alluvial strata or the supposed beds of ancient lakes, or deposits in caves, or raised sea-beaches containing shells or bones of vertebrate animals, the traveller will do well to bring away specimens if a good opportunity offers. If the plan of the expedition includes the collection of fossil remains, the traveller will, of course, provide himself with a proper geological outfit, and obtain the necessary instructions before leaving Europe. (See [Section III].) For suggestions as to the collecting and preserving fossils and minerals, cf. British Museum ‘Handbook,’ pp. 126-135.

General Remarks.—All collections made in tropical countries should be sent to Europe with the least possible delay, as they soon become deteriorated and spoilt unless great care be bestowed upon them.

Observations of Habits, etc.—Travellers have excellent opportunities of observing the habits of animals in a state of nature, and these ‘Hints’ would be very deficient were not a few remarks made upon this subject. To know what to observe in the economy of animals is in itself an accomplishment which it would be unreasonable to expect the general traveller to possess, and without this he may bring home only insignificant details, contributing but little to our stock of real knowledge. One general rule, however, may be kept always present to the mind, and this is, that anything concerning animals which bears upon the relations of species to their conditions of life is well worth observing and recording. Thus, it is important to note the various enemies which each species has to contend with, not only at one epoch in its life, but at every stage from birth to death, and at different seasons and in different localities. The way in which the existence of enemies limits the range of a species should also be noticed. The inorganic influences which inimically affect species, especially intermittently (such as the occurrence of disastrous seasons), and which are likely to operate in limiting their ranges, are also important subjects of inquiry. The migrations of animals, and especially any facts about the irruption of species into districts previously uninhabited by them, are well worth recording. The food of each species should be noticed, and if any change of customary food is observed, owing to the failure of the supply, it should be carefully recorded. The use in nature of any peculiar physical conformation of animals, the object of ornamentation, and so forth, should also be investigated whenever opportunity occurs. Any facts relating to the interbreeding in a state of nature of allied varieties, or the converse—that is, the antipathy to intercrossing of allied varieties—would be extremely interesting. In short, the traveller should bear in mind that facts having a philosophical bearing are much more important than mere anecdotes about animals.