PHILIP miller's plants 133 



It was evidently an extensive collection ; writing to John Bar tram 

 on Jan. 12, 1758, Miller says " my Hortus siccus is now replete 

 with near ten thousand specimens, [and] I am very solicitous to 

 make it as complete as I can." * In the preface to ed. 7 of the 

 Gardeners Dictionary (1759) he says of the descriptions : " The 

 far greater number are from the growing plants, which the author 

 has under his care, and the others are from dried samples, which 

 are well preserved; of which he has, perhaps, as large a collection 

 as can be found in the possession of any private person." I do 

 not think the collection as acquired by Banks can have contained 

 anything like as many as 10,000 specimens. 



The difficulty of determining which of the sheets in the 

 Banksian collection are from Miller's herbarium is increased 

 by the way in which these are endorsed. As is well known, 

 at that period it was customary to write information on the 

 back of the sheets, in accordance with Linnaeus's direction (Phil. 

 Bot. 7), "historica [altered in later editions to 'historia'] a tergo." 

 Solander made this endorsement in three ways : sometimes he 

 wrote: "Herb. Miller," which is of course clear enough, but at 

 others he contented himself with " Hort. Chels." or " Hort.," 

 and sometimes, I think, omitted even this. In many cases, 

 the identity of the specimens is made clear by the presence on 

 the sheets of labels containing the diagnoses from the Dictionary 

 in Miller's own hand; in others it can be deduced from the pencil 

 " tick" which was placed (no doubt by Solander) before the name 

 of the plant in Banks's copy of the Dictionary at the time Miller's 

 plants were received. 



An illustration will make this clear. In the genus Iris in the 

 National Herbarium are four of Miller's species represented by 

 four specimens, to which are attached labels bearing the diagnoses 

 of the Dictionary in his own hand: — I.maritima (n. 11), I.bicolor 

 (n. 13), J. sativa (n. 15), and I. picta (n. 16) ; the first of these is 

 endorsed " Hort.," the others " Hort. Chels." The three last are 

 written up by Solander with Miller's name, followed in the case 

 of the second and fourth by " Mill. Diet." ; I. maritima has 

 remained nameless until I wrote the name on it the other 

 day, yet the identification is as unquestionable as that of the 

 others. I. verna (n. 17) and I. florentma (n. 22) are not Millerian 

 species, but " Mill." in Solander' s hand follows their names, they 

 are endorsed respectively "Hort." and "Hort. Chels.," and are 

 •' ticked " in the Banksian copy of the Dictionary. The evidence 

 in this case is practically as conclusive as in the preceding 

 instances. 



The specimens doubtless were preserved by Miller loose in 

 folded sheets, as was the case with the collection of Chelsea 

 Garden plants sent to the Eoyal Society which, when trans- 

 ferred to the British Museum in 1781, were in that condition 

 and remained so until they were incorporated with the National 



Memorials of Bart ram, p. 381. 



