320 T7IE .TOURXAL OF llOTAXT 



is very extensive, and includes citations of figures and exsiccatre, 

 where tlie.^e exist. They give an impression of great care nnd com- 

 pleteness, thus when describing new genera he adds a note as to the 

 persons commemorated : of Georgia, for exam])le, a genus of mosses, he 

 notes " Maximo Botmices Promotori, Georgio tertio, magnaj Britanniae 

 Kegi, consecravit Ehrhart " (Beitr. i. 176) — a eulogy of " Georg, 

 unser giitiger Konig, und Catharina, llusslands Kaiserin," to whom 

 Catharinea is dedicated, aj^pears in the same volume (pp. 128-4). 

 It may be noted that Ehrhart had in 17S0 received a commission 

 from the Hannoverian Government to make botanical journeys 

 through the electorate of Braunschweig-Luneherg during a period of 

 three years, and to compile a flora of this territor3^ In 1787 he 

 received a royal patent appointing him Botanist to his Majesty. 



Ehrhart's critical knowledge of plants and extensive acquaintance 

 with their literature is even more fully exhibited in the long series of 

 notes headed " Botanische Zurechtweisungen," which ap}>ear in each 

 volume of the Beltrage. These include additions and corrections to 

 the descriptions of various authors and numerous notes on nomenclature 

 in which names and identificali ns made in error are assigned to their 

 correct position. Written as they are in German, they have attracted 

 little attention from British botanists, or, indeed, so far as I know, 

 from botanists generally, and for this reason I must content myself 

 with directing to them the attention of those versed in that language. 

 It is evident that the notes contain much of interest, if not of 

 importance, and that they would repay investigation ; but unfor- 

 tunately tliere is no index to their contents, so that it is only by 

 going through them that the information they contain can be 

 acquired. 



An interesting account of Ehrhart is given in the preface to 

 G. F. W. Meyer's Chloris Sanoveraiia (1836); this includes a list 

 of the seven Exsiccatae which I transcribe, numbers being prefixed 

 for convenience of reference : 



" [I] Phytophylaceum [sic] Ehrhartianum. Dec. i-x. Hanov, 

 17S0-17S5. " 



" [II] Plantae officinales. Dec. i-xlvi. Hanov. 1785-1792. 



" [III] Calamariae, gramina et tripetaloideae L. Dec. i-xiv. 

 Hanov. 1785-1793. 



*' [IV] Plantae ciyptogamae L. Dec. i-xxxiv. Hanov. 1785-1793. 



" [V] Arhores, frutices et suifrutices L. Dec. i-xvi. Hanov. 

 1787-1793. 



*' [VI] " Herbae L. Dec. i-xvi. Hanov. 1787-1793. 



*' [VII] Plantae selectae hortuli proprii. Dec. i-xvi. Hanov. 

 1792-1793." 



I have taken this chronological arrangement as the basis of the 

 following enumeration. It appears from the preface that Meyer's own 

 set of the Exsiccatfc was not perfect, and he seems to have doubted 

 whether any complete series existed : even the English botanists, he 

 says — no doubt with special reference to J. E. Smith, — who recognized 

 the value of Ehrhart's collections had not access to all of them. 

 Meyer gives a detailed description of a collection in his possession 



