489 
In another letter of the same year, he says, “I 
have written much of late in Rees’s Cyclopedia ; it 
is a very pleasant employment to me, and has led 
me to launch out into subjects I might otherwise 
not have touched upon,—I mean only in botany and 
botanical biography.” . . 
In 1808 Mr. Wood died suddenly, in the midst of 
writing the article Cyperus. “Dr. Rees,” adds Sir 
James, “ then threw himself on me. As five thousand 
copies sell, it is of importance for the progress of 
science, and therefore I would not let it go out of 
my hands. I now write all the botanical part, and 
biography of botanists. I put an S. to the articles 
for which I wish to be responsible.” 
Thus beginning towards the conclusion of the 
letter C, Sir James continued his communications 
through the remainder of the alphabet ; and, with 
the exception of a few articles by his friend the 
Rev. W. F. Drake, the botanical information con- 
tained in this work is exclusively Sir James’s from 
the time of Mr. Wood’s decease. 
The communications he sent, without including 
the biography of botanists, amount to 3348 articles. 
The lives of botanists are 57, of which the follow- 
ing is a list :— 
Michael Adanson. John Ellis. 
Charles Clusius. Louis Feuillée. 
Peter Collinson. Leonard Fuchs. 
William Curtis. Joseph Geertner. 
James Dalechamp. Alexander Garden. 
John James Dillenius. John Gerarde. 
Rembertus Dodonzus. Conrad Gesner. 
Joseph Dombey. John Gesner, 
