1855.] Linnean Society. 421 



dominions and in other parts, partly at the expense of the crown, 

 and partly by means of shares ; such for example as the journey in 

 Mexico of Baron Karwinsky. An " Index Plantarum anno 1824 in 

 horto Imperiali Botanico Petropolitano vigentium," exhibits the state 

 of the garden soon after his appointment. In 1831 he published a 

 ' Monographia Zygophyllearum ; ' and from 1835 to 1845, he issued 

 annually, in conjunction with C. A. Meyer, Von Trautvetter, and 

 subsequently with Ave-Lallemant, an " Index Seminum, quae hortus 

 botanicus Imperialis Petropolitanus pro mutua commutatione ofFert," 

 containing in addition to the lists of seeds, characters and descriptions 

 of a multitude of new plants, and more particularly those of Siberia. 

 In conjunction with C. A. Meyer he also published a ' Bericht iiber 

 die Getraide-Arten, welche im Jahre 1836 und 1837 in Kaiserlichen 

 Botanischen Garten zu St. Petersburg gebaut w^orden ; ' a " Lettre 

 sur les genres Xeranthemum et Chardinia " in the ' Nouveaux Me- 

 raoires ' of the Moscow Society ; and an *• Enumeratio (prima et al- 

 tera) Plantarum novarum a CI. Schrenck lectarum," Petropoli, 1841, 

 1842. In the year 1845, a reconstruction of the great Palm-house 

 of the garden became necessary, and this was effected under the 

 directions of the architect M. Fischer- Ouralsky; the new house (of 

 which a full account is given in a work by Fischer and Meyer, 

 entitled ' Sertum Petropolitanum,' issued in the following year), 

 measuring 266 feet in length, 80 feet in breadth, and 67 feet in 

 height, and forming one magnificent saloon. In consequence, how- 

 ever, of discussions to which this building gave rise. Dr. Fischer 

 •was compelled in the spring of 1850 to relinquish the post of Director 

 which he had held for seven and-twenty years, and to quit the garden, 

 the library, the herbarium, and the other collections, which had been 

 almost wholly formed by himself and which he cherished with a 

 parent's love. Towards the end of the same year, however, he was 

 appointed a Medical Councillor in the department of the Minister of 

 the Interior, and again attached himself to his favourite science by 

 the publication in the ' Bulletin ' of the Moscow Society of a " Notice 

 sur les Anoplanthus de I'Ancien Monde ; " and a " Synopsis Astra- 

 galorum Tragacantharum," illustrated by twelve plates drawn by 

 himself. Dr. Fischer was elected a Foreign Member of the Linnean 

 Society in 1820, and was also a member of numerous other scien- 

 tific societies. The Leopoldinfl-Caroline Academy of Naturalists 

 elected him in 1837, under the name of " Aiton." He died at St. 

 Petersburg on the 5th (17th) of June 1854, in the 73rd year of his 

 age, after a short but painful illness. In 1830 he married the 



