16 ESSAYS. 
time thirty or forty thousand species. Of the separate her- 
baria, the most interesting to us is that made in this country 
by the elder Michaux, from whose specimens and notes the 
learned Richard prepared the “ Flora Boreali-Americana.” 
Michaux himself, although an-excellent and industrious 
collector and observer, was by no means qualified for author- 
ship; and it is to L. C. Richard that the sagacious observa- 
tions, and the elegant, terse, and highly characteristic specific 
phrases of this work are entirely due. There is also the very 
complete Newfoundland collection of La Pylaie, comprising 
about 300 species, and a set of Berlandier’s Texan and Mexican 
plants, as well as numerous herbaria less directly connected 
with North American botany, which we have not room to 
enumerate. Here, however, we do not find the herbaria of 
several authors which we should have expected. That of 
Lamarck, for instance, is in the possession of Professor Reeper 
at Rostock, on the shores of the Baltic ; that of Poiret belongs 
to Moquin-Tandon of Toulouse; that of Bose, to Professor 
Moretti of Pavia; and the proper herbarium of the late Des- 
fontaines, which however still remains at Paris, now forms a 
part of the very large and valuable collection of Mr. Webb. 
The herbarium of Mr. Webb, although of recent establishment, 
is only second to that of Baron Delessert ; the two being far 
the largest private collections in France, and comprising not 
only many older herbaria, but also, as far as possible, full sets 
of the plants of recent collectors. The former contains many 
of Michaux’s plants (derived from the herbarium of Desfon- 
taines), a North American collection, sent by Nuttall to the 
late Mr. Mercier of Geneva, a full set of Drummond’s collee- 
tions in the United States and Texas, etc. The latter also 
comprises many plants of Michaux, derived from Ventenat's 
herbarium, complete sets of Drummond’s collections, ete. 
But a more important, because original and perhaps complete, 
set of the plants of Michaux is found in the herbarium of the 
late Richard, now in possession of his son, Professor Achille 
Richard, which even contains a few species which do not ex- 
ist in the herbarium at the Royal Museum. The herbarium 
of the celebrated Jussieu, a fine collection, which is serupu- 
