148 THE .TOTJUN/VL OF BOTANY 



to the enlargement of her collections, she had the goodness, before her 

 dejiarture, to make me a present of a valuable ring, in remembrance 

 of her, and of the friendship with which she had honoured me. She 

 was a lady about sixty years of age, who, amongst other languages, 

 had also some knowledge of Latin, and had, at her own expense, 

 brought with her a draughtsman, in order to assist her in collecting 

 and delineating scarce specimens of natural history" {Travels, ii. 

 132). The insects collected by Lady Anne in Bengal were bequeathed 

 by her to Ann Lee of Hammersmith (see Journ. Bot. 1917, 66) and 

 were seen by Thunberg at Hammersmith in 1778 {op. cit. iv. 290) ; 

 it would hence appear that the two women were acquainted befoi-e 

 Lady Anne left England. 



In his Flora Capensis (fasc. i. 7 : 1807) Thunberg paj'S a further 

 tribute to Lady Anne's capabilities : — 



"Monsson [_sic], Anna, Angl., Florum et Insectonmi amore 

 ducta, cum marito carissimo in Bengaliam iter suscipere non recu- 

 savit. In hocce promontorio commorans, qvovis fere die me et 

 Massonio comitibus, in urbis viciniis freqventes et operse pretio dignas 

 instituit excursiones botanicas, curiosa varia congessit atqve sua inter 

 Botanophilos cara menioria optime se dignam reddidit." 



The gloss put upon this reference by MacOwan (Trans. S. Afr. 

 Phil. Soc. iv., xxxviii) seems unjustifiable : Thunberg, he says, 

 " speaks of her collections in somewhat depreciatory terms : ' curiosa 

 varia congessit,' that is, these were ladies' specimens." No specimens 

 of Lady Anne's collecting are known to exist, but that Thvmberg had 

 no intention of depreciating her work is evident from the passage 

 already quoted from his Travels. A tribute to her botanical know- 

 ledge is paid by Smith, who in Rees's Cyclopaedia writes: — '' Mon- 

 sonia is designed to commemorate the late Lady Ann Monson, a lady 

 of distinguished talents, as well as of eminent botanical taste and 

 knowledge, who by a long residence in the East Indies had great 

 o]:)portunities of cultivating the study of plants, as well as insects. 

 We trust we shall betray no inviolable secret, in recording that it 

 was to tins lady that the late Mr. Lee alluded in the preface [p. xii] to 

 his Introduction to Botany, first published in 1760, where he says he 

 was enjoined not to acknowledge his obligations to those who had kindly 

 helped him in his imdertaking. A most elegant East Indian Ille- 

 cehriim was first chosen by Koenig, if we mistake not, to bear the name 

 of Monsonia. which remains as its specific appellation ; and a more 

 distinct genus, of greater splendour, has been selected for the 

 purpose." 



I cannot find that tlie name Monsonia has been published elsewhere 

 for the East Indian plant, nor that Lady Anne has been mentioned in 

 connection Avith it. It was named lUecclrvm Jlonsonice hy Linn. fil. 

 (Mant. 161 (1781)); he received it from Koenig, who also sent it 

 to lietzius, who published it (Obs. ii. 13) as Celosia Monsonice: it is 

 now placed in JErua. The specific name is miswritten Monsonia by 

 recent autliors : e. g. by Hook. fil. in Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 728 — who 

 wa-ongly cites Eetzius, Martius, and Wightfor J/o«sc«/a and Linn. fil. 

 for Monsoniwux ! — and in the Index Kcwensis. 



