120 APPENDIX. 



They travelled from Acapulco to the city of Mexico, though it would appear that 

 they did not diverge much from the beaten tracks. Haenke's plants are in the Prague, 

 Vienna, and other continental herbaria. Presl elaborated these collections in two illus- 

 trated volumes entitled ' Keliquise Hsenkeanse.' Some of the types are in the British 

 Museum, and a few, chiefly Cyperacece, at Kew ; the latter formed part of Bishop 

 Goodenough's herbarium, recently presented to Kew by the Corporation of Carlisle. 



Martin SessS. — A Doctor of Medicine and a botanist, who was made leader of an 

 expedition for the scientific exploration of New Spain, sent out in 1795 by Charles IV. 

 of Spain. Jose Mariano Mocifio and Vicente Cervantes were associated with him in 

 this work. The latter afterwards became Professor of Botany at Mexico city, where 

 he died in 1829 at the age of seventy years *. He was the first who publicly lectured 

 on botany in Mexico ; and he appears to have kept up a correspondence with European 

 botanists, among whom was Lambert ; for we find that several Mexican plants were 

 raised in Lambert's garden from seeds sent by Cervantes — Nocca latifolia (Lagascea) 

 in Sweet's ' British Flower Garden,' series 1, plate 215, for example. Sesse and Mocifio 

 spent eight years, from 1795 to 1804, in the botanical exploration of Mexico and the 

 adjoining countries, from Punta Arenas in Costa Rica to the mouth of the river 

 Hiaqui or Yaqui in north-western Mexico; afterwards visiting California and the 

 West Indies. This expedition seems to have been conducted with great skill, industry, 

 and devotion ; yet to this day the results have not been published, except a few frag- 

 ments, and these by foreigners. The fruit of these journeyings, Colmeiro states, was 

 a considerable herbarium, which reached the Madrid botanic garden in 1820, and was 

 incorporated in the general collection. ( f There was also a fine set of about 1400 

 coloured drawings of Mexican plants, executed by Atanasio Echevarria, a Mexican, 

 and Juan de Dios Cerda, both clever artists whose names are commemorated in the 

 genera Echeveria (now a section of Cotyledon) and Cerdia, a singular genus of the 

 Caryophyllacese recently rediscovered by Parry and Palmer in San Luis Potosi." By 

 some means a small portion of Mocifio and Sesse's herbarium came into Lambert's 

 possession, and at his death it was purchased for Delessert. During the time these 

 plants were in Lambert's possession David Don described a number of them, including 

 the genus Cowania and various Composite f . It is conjectured, too, that the large 

 number of Mexican plants in Pavon's collections at Kew and the British Museum 

 formed part of Mocifio and Sesse's herbarium J. This is very probable, as Pavon 

 himself was never in Mexico, and there is evidence of his having dealt freely in the 

 sale of dried plants. ' ^Through Mocifio, the collection of drawings alluded to, and 

 various manuscripts, passed into the hands of the elder DeCandolle for publication, 



* 'Mora,' 1830, p. 693. 



t Transactions of the Linnean Society, siv. p. 573, and xvi. p. 169. 



t Lasegue, ' Musee Delessert,' p. 322. 



