342 DOCTOR FOTHERGILL [1770. 



part at Kew,* and part in a little piece of water at Upton, my 

 little residence, exactly agreeable to thy instructions. 



> ^ ^r* *K 



A place is not yet fixed upon for the Bull-frogs to be put in. 

 In the mean time, however, they are kept in a shallow vessel of 

 water, the bottom covered with moss, where they may either put 

 their heads above or under water, as they like. We have now a severe 

 frost ; but when this goes off, they will be set at large, somewhere, 

 and in safety. We have none of the kind in England. The King 

 is acquainted with their arrival, also the Colocasia, and from whom 

 they come. * * * 



Mention is made in thy letter of some drawings designed for the 

 Duchess of Portland. I received only one roll, and that directed 

 to me, consisting of drawings of the Colocasia, a new species of 

 Momordiea, Shells, &c, six in number. If any of them are de- 

 signed for the Duchess, be pleased to inform me. If they are for 

 me which I hope be kind enough to give me some intimation of 

 their value, which I will pay to my kinsman. 



I must still desire that thy son will favour me with drawings of 

 the rest of your American Tortoises, with such remarks on them 

 as occur to him. As the inhabitants increase, the species of this 

 and some other animals, as well as vegetables, will, perhaps, be 

 extinguished, or exist only in some still more distant parts. It 

 would, therefore, be of great advantage to natural history, to have 

 everything of a fugitive nature consigned to paper, with as much 

 accuracy as possible ; and in inquiring into the value of these 

 drawings, I do not so much want to know at how low a price he 

 can afford them, as what, in his own opinion, will be a proper com- 

 pensation for his labour and his time. And Avhatever he attempts 

 of the kind, let it be well finished ; and I hope he will not find me 

 niggardly. ***** 



I hope to send thee, in the spring, some little account of our 

 late kind friend P. Collinson's life and services in respect to 

 Botany. For several years past, I have left London about ten 

 weeks in the summer, and get about one hundred and sixty miles 



* In the Hortus Kewensis (first edition, 1789), this plant is said to have been 

 "introduced 1787, by Sir Joseph Banks, Bart." P. Collixson and Doctor 

 Fothergill had made repeated attempts, several years before that time, to ob- 

 tain it, through the agency of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall ; as 

 demonstrated by their correspondence. 



