278 OLD HERBARIA. 



latter he really belongs. He was noted for his botanical know- 

 ledge, ' herbarum diligentissimus et indefessus investigator, qui 

 plurimus novas reperit plantas variisque misit, doctissimis in re 

 herbarus viris, a quibus honorificentissirne memoratur.' See Anton. 

 Bumaldus in ' Bib. Bonon.,' p. 97.' " 



It may be of interest to add some notice of a herbarium which 

 has lately been transferred from the Kew collection to the 

 Botanical Department of the British Museum. It was formed by 

 J. M. Ferro, a Venetian apothecary who died in 1673, and is in an 

 excellent state of preservation. It was at one time in the pos- 

 session of L. C. Treviranus, who refers to it in his ' Die Anwending 

 des Holzschnittes zur bildlichen Darstellung von Pflanzen ' (1855), 

 p. 46.* It is in three volumes, each with a written title-page, of 

 which the following is a transcription, in an ornamental printed 

 border of German design : — 



" Ioannis Marise Ferro Veneti Aromataru 

 Theatru Vegetabiliu 

 Summo 

 Lahore, Industria, Sudore, Vigilantia & Experientia 



ab eodem 



collectors & in tres Libros digestoru ac dispositoru 



Qui 



quamplurima alia usq. ad perfectionem 



sibi 



propositi Operis adiunxisset aliosq. libros confecisset, 



Typis 

 ad hominu utilitatem Opus prestantissimu mandaturus 



Ni 



Morbo Lethali calculi in Vesica conflictatus, & preuentus 



Vita 



Cum Morte commutasset 



A.D. 



M.D.C.L.XXIII 



Die 



XIX Men sis Junij 



Aetatis LXX" 



The index to each volume is in the same handwriting as the 



above ; on the back of the title of the first is the following, in 



another hand : — 



" In Joannem Mariam Ferro Aromatarium Venetum 



expertissimum 



Primum in arte Botanica 



ex innato Calculo Mortmain 



etatis 



LXX. 



* " Das von diesem Ferro nachgelassene Herbarium, welches ich besitze, 

 besteht aus drei starken Banden, deen jeder einen geschriebenen Titel hat, 

 eingefasst in einen herrlichen Holzschnitt von der Arbeit eines nicht bezeich- 

 neten, aber augenscheinlich deutschen Kunstlers." 



