368 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



adopted in France. The shelves are divided into compart- 

 ments in the usual manner; but instead of doors, the cabinet 

 is closed by a curtain of thick and coarse brown linen, kept 

 extended by a heavy bar attached to the bottom, which is 

 counterpoised by concealed weights, and the curtain is raised 

 or dropped by a pulley. Paper of a very ordinary quality is 

 generally used, and the specimens are attached, either to half- 

 sheets or to double sheets, by slips of gummed paper, or by 

 pins, or sometimes the specimen itself is glued to the paper. 

 Genera or other divisions are separated by interposed sheets, 

 having the name written on a projecting slip. 



According to the excellent plan adopted in the arrange- 

 ment of these collections, which is due to Desfontaines, three 

 kinds of herbaria have been instituted, viz. : 1. The general 

 herbarium. 2. The herbaria of particular works or cele- 

 brated authors, which are kept distinct, the duplicates alone 

 being distributed in the general collection. 3. Separate 

 herbaria of different countries, which are composed of the 

 duplicates taken from the general herbarium. To these, 

 new accessions from different countries are added, which 

 from time to time are assorted and examined, and those re- 

 quired for the general herbarium are removed to that collec- 

 tion. The ancient herbarium of Vaillant forms the basis of 

 the general collection; the specimens, which are all labelled 

 by his own hand, are in excellent preservation, and among 

 them plants, derived from Cornuti or Dr Sarrasin, may occa- 

 sionally be met with. This collection, augmented to many 

 times its original extent, by the plants of Commerson, Dom- 

 bey, Poiteau, Leschenault, &c., and by the duplicates from 

 the special herbaria, probably contains at this time thirty or 

 forty thousand species. Of the separate herbaria, the most 

 interesting to us is that made in this country by the elder 

 Michaux, from whose specimens and notes the learned 

 Richard prepared the Flora Boreali-Americayia. 



Michaux himself, though an excellent and industrious col- 

 lector and observer, was by no means qualified for author- 

 ship; and it is to L. C. Richard, that tiie sagacious observa- 



