21G THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



trace, either in the published volume or in the drawings. The con- 

 cluding sentence runs : — 



" Plantarum demum quamplurinise in superivis recensitis classibus 

 distribute, ad amussim conspiciuntur seniis Tabulis delineatse, una cum 

 earum nomenclatura, descriptiones viribus, in nostra Historia Botanico- 

 Practiea, seu Historia Plantarum quae ad usum Medicinse pertinent." 

 The other long MS. (p. 61, also in Latin and Italian) is headed 

 " Dilucidatio vocum, quibus Rei Herbariie Scriptores uti solent, 

 suis Iconibus accurate expressa, et declarata." This is a very elaborate 

 and interesting glossary, in which the definitions of various authors 

 are cited, and numerous examples are given for illustrations of 

 which references are made throughout to the then unpublished work ; 

 the^^ run : " vide nostr. Histor. Botan. Pract. Tab. Icon." One 

 definition may be quoted : " Herbarium sive Hortum Siccum appel- 

 lant coUectionem Plantarum exsiccatarum, quae in codicibus vel capsis 

 asservantur, ut quavis anni parte in spici possint." 



Bi'sides these two MSS. there are two smaller ones — one, a sheet 

 of three pages containing definitions in Latin and Italian of "Botanica" 

 and " Plantie," the latter _ containing a method of classification : 

 the other, of two pages, is a preface which, like the above definitions, 

 seems to belong to the " Diluciditio," although it is on paper of 

 smaller size — perhaps a draft r' — this is only in Italian. The con- 

 cluding paragraph is rather graceful: "Gradisci benignamente 

 questa mia picciola fatica, come Caparra, die ti do' ch' operare a 

 maggior' gloria di Dio et utile della liepubblica, e da tal simolo 

 piacendo all' Altissimo sortiranno alia Luce altre cose circa quest' Arte, 

 quali anch' elleno saranno con le' altre compatite. Hec enjo (Lettori 

 amatissimi per servirmi delle parole del Crisostomo) Hec ergo 

 jaciamiis tamqunm fundamenta et deinde omnia expedita erunt oc 

 facilia ((icttiamo adunque questi Elementi come fondamenti in 

 quest' Arte, che poi netto il restante sara piii piano e facile — Vivi 

 felice)." 



These MSS. came into the hands of Count Silvio Donati, whose 

 name is on a lozenge on the back of the title-page which it would seem 

 that he, or someone in his employ, had supplied to the Dilucidatio : 

 in the same hand are titlepages for the various " Distributiones," 

 intended to be inserted in their proper places among the plates, with 

 which they were paged continuously ; it appears from these that some 

 of the drawings have been lost, for the " Distributio " refers to i'. IGO 

 and the last folio is numbered 155: the deficiency is apparent when 

 the printed book is consulted, and also from the index to the d.ia wings, 

 in the same hand. 



In its present state the MS. is much cropped : I think it must 

 have been bound by someone into whose hands it came after its 

 possession by the Count : this would explain the misplacing of the 

 titles to the " Distributiones." The titlepage to the entire volume 

 Avas, as his name on the reverse shows, drawn up when it was in 

 Count Donati's possession : it is in Latin and Italian and runs : 

 "Erudimenta Botanica juxta industria eorum principia Illustrata et 

 delineata a Joanne Baptista Morandi Equite Mediolanensi Beneficio, 

 et utilitati. Plantarum notionem inquirentium." It seems probable 



