STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 15 



Alzate y Ramirez, the latter a distinguished scientist, born in Mexico, 

 who published numerous articles dealing with Mexican plants. 



Longinos engaged in the formation of collections of various objects 

 and explored many parts of New Spain, his route extending even to 

 the Californias. He visited also Guatemala and Yucatan, and died 

 in the port of Campeche in 1803. Some of his collections were sent 

 to Madrid and part remained in Mexico. 



Mocino was the most enthusiastic and diligent of all the members of 

 the commission. He was likewise the most adventurous, and in the 

 ascentof the VolcandeTuxtla, in 1793, he came near losing his life. 

 He ended his field work in 1801, and in the Hospital de San Andres he 

 conducted experiments with the medicinal plants he had collected. 

 He was able to communicate to others some of his enthusiasm for 

 natural histor}^, and many people began to take an interest in the 

 subject, one of the results of which was the formation of an extensivvj 

 museum. His chief interest, however, was the task, in association 

 with Sesse, of arranging and describing his botanical collections, 

 with the view of publishing a work entitled Plantae Novae Hispaniae. 

 He had already prepared a Flora Mexicana, and specimens from his 

 collections had been sent to Lagasca and Cavanilles, who described 

 some of them as new species. In addition, living plants and seeds 

 were forwarded to the Botanical Garden of Madrid. 



Finally, in 1804, Sesse and Mociilo made an end of their explo- 

 rations and set sail for Madrid, with a rich herbarium and a series 

 of 1,400 colored drawings, as well as their precious manuscripts. 

 Cervantes remained in Mexico as director of the botanical garden 

 and professor of botany. 



Sesse and Mocino were filled with hope of the immediate publi- 

 cation of the results of their labors, but the bitter disappointment 

 experienced by Hernandez was to be the share of these two botanists 

 also. They were given a cool reception and no facilities whatever for 

 printing their reports. Hope of soon meeting with success in his am- 

 bitions induced Mocino to accept a meager pension from the Gov- 

 ernment, and he lived as a member of Sesse's family until the death 

 of the latter in 1809. He manifested a deep interest in all scientific 

 matters ; he was appointed director of the cabinet of natural history 

 of Madrid, gave courses in zoology, and with the assistance of another 

 "Mexican, D. Pablo de La Llave, arranged the zoological collections 

 of the museum. 



Mociiio seems to have been on good terms with the French, who 

 invaded Spain about this time, but he became involved in difficulties 

 because of his refusal to recognize one Barrois as president of the 

 Academy of Medicine, of which he was a member. When the 

 French Army withdrew from Madrid, Mocino remained, presuming 

 that he had not compromised himself by acting as a teacher of nat- 



