317 
He was a correspondent of Gronovius and also of the great 
Linneus, both of whom afforded him much aid in his ‘botanical 
pursuits. Clayton’s ‘‘ Flora Virginiana,” the first of its kind in 
this country, began to appear in 1739, subsequent portions being 
published in 1743 and 1762. At the time of his death he left 
two volumes of manuscripts, and an herbarium with marginal 
notes and references for the engraver who should prepare the 
plates for his proposed work. All this material, the result of many 
years of labor, was destroyed by fire during the Revolutionary War, 
and thus perished what was probably one of the most important 
works on American botany written before the days of Gray and 
Torrey. 
The author of the first work written in America on the princi- 
ples of science (Botany and Zoology), was, like Clayton, a resi- 
dent of Virginia. The low-creeping, evergreen vine, known to 
very one as Partridge-berry, was named by Linnzus in honor of 
this author, Mitchella repens. Dr. John Mitchell was born in 
England, but he early came to Virginia where he spent nearly fifty 
years practicing medicine and promoting science. He was a man 
of broad culture and was one of the earliest chemists and physicists 
in America. His political and botanical writings were numerous 
and were always well received, and Mitchell’s map of North America 
is still an authority in boundary matters. It has been said of 
Mitchell and Clayton that together they gave to the botany of 
Virginia a distinguished lustre. 
Mark Catesbey spent a dozen years in Virginia and the Caro- 
linas, from 1712 to 1725, collecting and making paintings of birds 
and plants, and his magnificent, illustrated work on the Natural 
History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahamas, is still of very 
§reat value to students. A Rubiaceous genus of the Antilles 
perpetuates his name. 
John Bartram, whose home was near Philadelphia, but who 
extended his botanical explorations into some of the Southern 
States, was styled by Linnzeus “the greatest natural botanist in 
the world.” He was made botanist to His Majesty for the Flor- 
idas by George III., and was given a pension of 50 pounds a 
year. He was a collector rather than an investigator, and did 
botany great service by supplying plants and seeds to Linnaeus and 
