JAMES -WILLIAM HELEXUS THATL 321 



ing as its exactitude. That knowledge was alwaj'-s freely at the 

 disposal of anyone who might seek his assistance, and those who have 

 profited most by his aid are also those who most lament that Trail's 

 high sense of public duty should have involved such inroads on his 

 scanty leisure as to prevent the permanent record of much that he 

 knew which it would benefit others to know. 



It was not, however, his knowledge alone that made any interven- 

 tion by Trail in discussion so valuable and gave such a charm to 

 intercourse with him. The regard and esteem in which he was held, 

 the authority with which he spoke, and the attention with which he 

 was heard, were due to his sincerity and kindliness as much as to his 

 knowledge. In Tmil those who knew him deplore the loss of the 

 wise counsellor and the generous friend even more than that of the 

 eminent natural historian. 



D. Pkain. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



LXXVII. John Ellis's Directions for Collectors. 



A damaged copy of a pamphlet, printed (but apparently not 

 published) in 1771 has lately been presented to the Department of 

 Botany. It is entitled " Directions for bringing over Seeds and 

 Plants from the East-Indies and other distant Countries in a State of 

 Vegetation," and is anonymous. It proves to be a reissue of the 

 first portion of the pamphlet published in 1770 (with the same 

 title) by John Ellis (c. 1710-76) : to the original, however, is 

 added as a second part the account of Dioncea that Ellis sent to- 

 Linnaeus, on which the description of the genus (Linn. Mant. ii. 238) 

 was based — it may be noted in passing that the plate accompanying 

 the letter was taken from a plant that flowered in [Ellis's] chambers 

 in August 1768 (see letter fi-om Ellis in Linnaeus's Correspondence., 

 ii. 73). The reissue does not entirely correspond with the original : 

 the first and last paragraphs of the latter are omitted, as well as the 

 long footnote (pp. 17, 18), and there are slight deviations in the text. 

 It contains an additional chapter, with plate, on *' The Method of 

 catching and preserving Insects for Collections." The " Directions " 

 is referred to by Lettsom (1744-1815) in \i\% Natural History of the 

 Tea-Tree (1772 — I have only seen the "new edition ''' of 1799) — in 

 which Ellis's plate illustrating "Boxes for conveying Plants by Sea "" 

 is reproduced, though without acknowledgement. It would appear 

 from Lettsom's note (p. 54) that Ellis had contemplated the publi- 

 cation of a second edition of his " Directions,'^ but this does not seem 

 to have appeared. The Naturalisf s and Traveller'' s Companion, to> 

 which the note makes reference, although published anonymously 

 (1722) is Lettsom's own work. 



James Britten, 



