24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. [1839, 



des Plantes, I had also to consult, for a few things, 

 the set taken by the actual writer of the "Flora," 

 L. C. Richard. This I found at the house of his son 

 Achille Richard, botanical professor in the Medical 

 School, living in the Medical Botanic Garden, then 

 occupying a piece of the Luxembourg grounds. The 

 other French botanists I recall were Dr. Montagne, 

 the cryptogamist, a pleasant man, Gaudichaud, whom 

 I saw little of, Auguste St. Hilaire, who I think spent 

 only the winter in Paris. I had an introduction to 

 Benjamin Delessert, who lived in fine style in a hotel 

 in the Rue Montmartre. Lasegue, the librarian, acted 

 as curator to the herbarium (Guillemin had died not 

 long before), which I found occasion to consult only 

 once. I should not forget Jacques Gay, with his 

 large herbarium very rich in European plants. I never 

 dreamed then that so many of them would find their 

 way into our own herbarium. He lived close to the 

 Luxembourg Palace, then the palace of the House of 

 Peers. Gay was the secretary of the Marquis de Se- 

 monville, who was a high official there, and so lived near 

 by. He held a weekly reception for botanists, etc., 

 and was a good soul. It was at the herbarium of the 

 Jardin des Plantes that I first made the acquaintance 

 of a botanist of about my own age, Edmond Boissier 

 of Geneva, who was studying some of the plants of 

 his collections in Granada and other parts of Spain, 

 soon after brought out in his work on the " Flora of 

 Granada," etc. 



I left Paris in early spring, by malle-poste to Lyons ; 

 passed a day with Seringe ; steamer to Avignon, dili- 

 gence to Nimes, and thence to Montpellier, where I 

 passed two or three days. Delile and Dunal were the 

 professors ; saw Bentham's mother and sister, then 



