Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 



in 



Among the best of the drawings which Rafinesque 

 made of plants, usually in outline only, were those of 

 his earliest attempts essayed while still a resident of 

 Sicily. These plates were all lost in the shipwreck, 

 only one ever appearing. There exists in the library 

 of the New York Academy of Science, in a volume of 

 botanical wood-cuts,* a collection of plates by Rafin 

 esque. On the margin of the first plate is written: 

 &quot;The following are the proofs of plates lost in my ship 

 wreck of 1815.&quot; On the back is written: &quot; Collection 

 of 29 plates and 46 figures of New Genera and Species 

 of plants from N. America, discovered by C. S. Rafin 

 esque in 18021804. Published in 1807, 1808, and 1814. 

 These plates never published only proofs of plates 

 lost in 1815, thus they are a unique collection. Depos 

 ited in the Lyceum at the foundation in 1817, by the 

 author. N. B. The Phyllepidum alone was published 

 in the Bncycl. Journal of Sicily, 1814.&quot; Whether these 

 plates and figures will serve to distinguish the American 

 plants described as a result of the first visit to the United 

 States must be left to the professional botanists to de 

 termine. 



Rafinesque s drawings of plants were all, so far as 

 we have seen them, in outline. Perhaps the best 



* Volume C, Shelf D, Case No. 36. 



