known of his collections.  The data which STELLER gained were destined to be the only ones which the scientific world obtained from Alaska for more than a third of a century.
        Not until 1778 was Alaska again visited by a naturalist. In that year the surgeon WILLIAM ANDERSON and the gardener at Kew DAVID NELSON, both of whom accompanied COOK on his third voyage, landed at the same place, Kayak I., where STELLER collected the first Alaskan plants.  COOK continued westwards and visited Prince William Sd., Cook Inlet and Bering Sea, but ANDERSON, who had for some time been suffering from consumption, could no longer do any botanical work.  He died near the E. end of the island which Bering had already named in 1728 St. Lawrence I., and which Cook in honour of his surgeon called Anderson's Island.  Only part of the collections made during COOK’s expedition are still in existence.
        These two journeys may be said to have initiated the period of the voyages of discovery which reaches to about the year 1830.  During this period Alaska and, indeed, the entire Northern Pacific were subjected to intensive investigation by scientists who generally accompanied those great voyages of geographical exploration which, utilizing the newly created possibilities of travelling around the world, visited these remote regions.  BILLING's, MALASPlNA's, VANCOUVER’s, KRUSENSTERN's, KOTZEBUE’s, BEECHY’s and LÜTKE's well-known exploring expeditions all touched the Alaskan Coasts and our knowledge of the Alaskan flora is based on the researches of their naturalists.  However, not very much of the results obtained was published. lt was not yet fully realized by the scientists of the day how essential it was to publish the primary material, and many were content to publish general descriptions of the flora and the vegetation.   CHAMISSO stands out as the one splendid exception to this rule.   This prescient and brilliant investigator was the first systematically to collect all vascular plants found in the places he visited.  He not only made excellent collections but also worked them up and published accounts of them with full details.  From his work the scientific world was for the first time able to form some conception of the total flora of vascular plants found in one place in Alaska.
        The results gained during the period of the great voyages of exploration were summarized in the botanical work which is still at the present day recognized as the single comprehensive work not only on the flora of Alaska but also on the flora of Siberia and Russia, viz. the extremely accurate and reliable standard work of LEDEBOUR's, » Flora Rossica », which was issued in 1842-53.