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in the Imperial library, and procured an excellent 
draughtsman, Mr. Ferdinand Bauer, to be the com- 
panion of his expedition. The illustration of the 
writings of Dioscorides was Dr. Sibthorp’s chief 
object. The names and reputed virtues of several 
plants recorded by that ancient writer, and still 
traditionally retained by the Athenian shepherds, 
he hoped would serve occasionally to elucidate or 
confirm the synonymy. 
“In March 1786 Dr. Sibthorp and Mr. Bauer 
set out together from Vienna, and in May pro- 
ceeded to Crete. Here, in the month of June, our 
botanical adventurers were welcomed by Flora in 
her gayest attire. The snowy covering of the 
Sphaciote mountains was withdrawing, and a tribe 
of lovely little blossoms were just peeping through 
the veil. 
“The first sketch of the Flora Greca comprises 
about 850 plants. ‘This,’ says Dr, Sibthorp, 
‘may be considered as containing only the plants 
observed by me in the environs of Athens, on the 
snowy heights of the Grecian Alp, Parnassus, on 
the steep precipices of Delphi, the empurpled 
mountain of Hymettus, the Pentele, the lower hills 
about the Pireus, the olive-grounds about Beeions, 
and the fertile plains of Boeotia.’ 
“In December 1787, Dr. Sibthorp returned to 
England, and was enrolled among the first members 
of the Linnean Society in the following spring. 
“In March 1794 he set out on a second tour to 
Greece, attended by Francesco Borone” (the Mila- 
nese servant of Sir James before mentioned,) “as 
