1896. NOTES AND COMMENTS. i53 



The only artist, who, for the beauty and accuracy of his work 

 can be compared with the Bauers, was George Dionysius Ehret, 

 several of whose drawings are shown. Eliret was born in Saxony, 

 in 1708, but, hke Francis Bauer, found a home in England, where he 

 worked at his art, and died in 1770. We have already referred to his 

 life and career in a recent number of Natural Science (vol. viii., 



P- 367)- 



Of the other last century artists whose work is represented, 



Sydenham Teak Edwards was born at Abergavenny (1769 ?), and died 

 at Chelsea in i8ig. He was a protege of William Curtis, the founder 

 of the Botanical Magazine, and for many years during the life and after 

 the death of his patron drew the plates for that journal. He also 

 drew for the Botanical Register for several years, from its start in 1815. 

 James Sowerby (i 757-1 822), who was born and died in London, is 

 known chiefly for his connection with the " English Botany," all the 

 original drawings and proofs of plates for which are in the Botanical De- 

 partment. One of the most conspicuous objects in the Public Gallery of 

 this section of the museum is his collection of models of British fungi. 

 Of John Frederick Miller (fl. 1776-1794), Frederick Polydore Nodder 

 (fl. 1777-1794), and Sydney Parkinson (died 1771), we know but little. 

 From Britten and Boulger (British and Irish botanists) we learn that 

 Nodder was botanic painter to Queen Caroline, and also drew and 

 engraved the plates for Martyn's " Flora Rustica," while Parkinson 

 was another protege of Sir Joseph Banks, with whom he went to the 

 South Seas in the " Endeavour," in 1768, as draughtsman ; he died 

 on the Indian Ocean in January, 1771. The sketch of a white lily on 

 a black ground, by John Christoph Dietzsch (i 710-1769), represents 

 an old and striking style of plant-portraiture. 



Of nineteenth century artists, specimens of whose work is shown, 

 Walter Hood Fitch was born in Glasgow in 1S17, and died at Kew in 

 1892. His most important botanical work was in connection with the 

 Botanical Magazine and Hooker's '■^Icones Plantanim,''' both of which 

 he illustrated for more than forty years. Of Mrs. Withers, to whom 

 is due the beautiful sketch of a columbine, we know nothing, and the 

 same applies to the Chinese artist who produced the two elegant 

 drawings of chrysanthemums. Worthington Smith is still with us, 

 and much in evidence in the Botanical Gallery, of which his illustra- 

 tions of British Basidiomycetes form a conspicuous ornament, besides 

 affording valuable help to students of a group of plants which it is 

 impossible to keep in anything approaching to a natural condition. 



In our remarks we have had to refer again and again to Sir 

 Joseph Banks, to whom botany, and especially the Botanical Depart- 

 ment of the British Museum, owe an unmeasurable debt of gratitude. 

 It is appropriate to find him, represented bv the beautiful statue 

 by Chantrey, as sitting between the two cases in which the drawings 

 are shown, his head inclined towards the one containing the work of 

 the two Bauers. 



