402 
[ had lately, in my attendance upon one of the 
family, an opportunity of spending a few hours in 
the botanical library of the late Earl of Bute. It is 
indeed very rich in books and dried specimens, as 
well as in volumes of paintings of plants; and it 
appears that the earl preserved his taste to the last, 
as I observed all the latest expensive works. There 
are (thick and thin) more than 300 folios, strzctly 
botanical, and quartos and octavos in proportion ; 
very many of the old authors, and some very scarce 
ones; a conservatory almost 300 feet long, full of 
fine plants, growing and flourishing in the soil (not 
in pots), like an Indian grove. To this add a gar- 
den of four acres, walled round, and full of hardy 
plants ; and all this within 150 yards of the sea. 
if you honour me with a plant, I must leave the 
choice of it to yourself, amidst the great variety of 
new subjects that are now pouring in upon you*. 
I wish to ask whether the Fungus, called in Ray’s 
Synopsis Oak leather,in the timber of houses, is well 
known in London, and its history investigated, and 
whether a specimen of it would be likely to be ac- 
ceptable to the Linnzean Society ? 
I am, &c. 
R. PuLreney. 
* In his work entitled Botany of New Holland, Sir James 
has named a plant of that country after Dr. Richard Pulteney, 
F.R. and L.S., well known by his Sketches of the Progress of 
Botany in England, and more especially by his Biography of 
Linneus. 
