22 iNbKX TO 'IIIK 



Tlie younger Hart man nientions with evident surprise that so 

 many Swedisli plants should b« absent from the collection, and in 

 some cases the native plant is represented only l^y a specimen 

 from a foreij^n country. 



It can nt'vcr he too empliatically stated, that it would be 

 unjust to judge I.inne's melliods by modern ones, to condemn 

 the pioneer because he could not foresee the latest developments, 

 and to liold his collections cheap because the specimens are small 

 and too often imperfect. The diiticulties of travelling and sending 

 specimens in those days quite sudiciently account for these 

 imperfections. 



Signs employei). 



The lierbarium itself lias been so often described in the memoirs 

 mentioned in the bibliography, that a detailed account is not 

 wanted here. Besides the small size, both of ])aper and the actual 

 specimens, a modern observer is struck with the want of informa- 

 tion as to the collector, place, and time of recei])t. Linne, it is 

 certain, trusted to his memory, using abbreviations and arbitrary 

 signs to remind him, should occasion require, of the circun)stances 

 under which he acquired the specimens. Some of these signs offer 

 no (lilliculty, such as Iv for Kalm ; others have been held as more 

 doubtful, as Sji. for Sparrman, which is correct. The younger 

 Hartman was puzzled by the use of the sign V» ^''^ ftreek capital 

 delta reversed, but Linne was accustomed to use nmny of tliese, 

 which were usual among medical men of his time. This particuhir 

 sign means aqua, easily guessed from Acp-ostis slolonifera \7 : t'ua 

 (Hartman, p. 28) or Veronica yinagall. V (Sp. Ph ed. 1, p. 12), 

 the latter when written out being Veronica Anagallis-aqvatica , 

 this pre-Linnean name appearing in the synonymy. Scandix 

 Pecten $ (Sp. PL ed, 1, p. 256) is now invariably written in full 

 as Scandix Pecten-Veneris, the $ being the astronon)icaI sign used 

 for the planet Venus, as well as by the mineralogist for copper. 

 A long catalogue might be compiled of Limic's signs in his various 

 works, though as he used the same sign at times with different 

 meanings, it need not be pursued further. 



But ever since the herbarium came into the possession of the 

 Society, three signs stand out as especially enigmatic, they are 

 numbers 1, 2 and 4 in the following: — 



1. 2, 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. H. 



o- # 



12. 13. 



