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GEORGE DIONYSIUS EHRET. 



In the current number of the Proceedinfis of the Linnean Society, 

 Miss Barton gives a translation of the autobiography of Ehret, which 

 is preserved in the Botanical Department of the British Museum. 

 It is a very interesting document, and incidentally corrects some of 

 the particulars given in the brief accounts of this eminent artist 

 hitherto published — the Bictiunanj of National Biofpaphj/, for ex- 

 ample, gives both the date and place of his birth incorrectly, in 

 w^hich latter error it is followed by the Bmiraphical Index of British 

 Botanists, where "Heidelberg" should be substituted for "Erfurt." 



His father and mother were poor folk who supported themselves 

 by the produce of their garden, and Ehret was taken from school 

 early and apprenticed to his uncle, a gardener near Darmstadt. 

 Here he kept up the practice of drawing, which he had learnt from 

 his father, and was later employed in the Margrave's garden at 

 Carlsruhe. After a few years he took service with Weinmann at 

 Regensburg, and executed for him about 500 drawings. Weinmann 

 seems to have treated him badly ; he then obtained other work, 



