COLLECTED NEAR ALEXANDRIA. 143 



slave in Egypt. Though suffering from constitutional 

 timidity, and often nearly broken down by sickness, the 

 extraordinary energy and perseverance with which he ex- 

 amined the vegetation of Egypt and Arabia produced a 

 work unsurpassed in its day. The hardships he underwent 

 prevented his surviving to publish it. We are indebted to 

 his friend Niebuhr for its appearance ; and it is remarkable 

 as being one of the first works in which the relation of 

 vegetation to climate is taken as an object of importance. 

 For maivy years the ' Flora ^Egyptiaco-Arabica' was the only 

 good account we had of the plants of those countries. In 

 the following List I have aimed at giving his synonyms of 

 all the plants enumerated. 



Delile subsequently published, in the * Botanique de 

 l^Expedition d'Egypte/ a very valuable account of its vege- 

 tation, with excellent engravings. 



In later years Ehrenberg and Hemprich, Dr. Riippell, 

 Aucher Eloy, Bone, Schimper, Boissier, Kralik, and more 

 recently Samaritani, Cadet de Fontenay, Dr. Gaillardot, 

 arid Schweinfurth have examined this district. 



It does not appear to have attracted the attention of any 

 Englishman except Henry Calvert, Vice-Consul at Alexan- 

 dria, to whom I am greatly indebted for assistance. 



Judge Letourneux, of the new Courts in Alexandria, an 

 able botanist from Algeria, has this year, I believe, taken 

 to Paris a very complete list of the Raraleh plants. 



Meanwhile Dr. Oscar Schneider has published an inter- 

 esting, though incomplete, list in the ' Isis,' Dresden, Heft 

 iii. 1 87 1. 



The authority on the subject today, however, is Boissier^s 

 'Flora Orientalis.^ The first volume, printed in 1867, 

 hardly does justice to the Egyptian flora ; but the subse- 

 quent volumes leave nothing to be desired, forming a mag- 

 nificent work worthy of any age or country. 



