296 LinncEcm Society. 



Survey, his breathing was observed to become difficult, and the mo- 

 ment after he was found to be dead. 



Among our Foreign Members we have to commemorate 



Don Jost Pavon, a botanist of considerable merit, and the colleague 

 of Ruiz in the memorable botanical expedition dispatched to Peru 

 by the Spanish Government in the year 1777, from which were ob- 

 tained such important results both in collections and publications. 

 On the recommendation of Ortega, then Professor of Botany at 

 Madrid, the expedition was j^laced under the direction of Ruiz, who 

 was accompanied by Pavon and by two artists, Brunete and Galvez. 

 M. Dombey also, who had been dispatched from France on a similar 

 mission, was allowed to accompany them ; and during a residence of 

 ten years they visited many of the most interesting districts of Peru 

 and Chile. In 1788 Ruiz and Pavon returned to Europe, bringing 

 with them large collections of plants and an extensive scries of bo- 

 tanical drawings, and leaving behind them two of their pupils, Tafalla 

 (afterwards Professor of Botany in the University of Lima), and 

 Pulgar (an artist of merit), to continue their investigations. The 

 collections thus made by themselves, and those which were subse- 

 quently transmitted to them, formed the basis of a series of works on 

 the botany of the Western Regions of South America, which, had 

 they been carried on to completion, would have been indeed a mag- 

 nificent contribution to science, and which even in their present in- 

 complete state are of high importance. The first of these publica- 

 tions appeared in 1794, under the title of ' Florae Peruvianse et Chi- 

 lensis Prodromus,' and contains descriptive characters and illustrative 

 figures of their new genera. This was followed in 1798 by the first 

 volume of the ' Flora Peruviana et Chilensis,' two other volumes of 

 which, extending as far as the class Octandria of the Linnsean system, 

 were published in 1799 and 1802. The plates of a fourth volume, 

 as well as many others intended for subsequent publication, were also 

 prepared. In 1798 also was published the first volume of a smaller 

 work without figures, entitled ' Systema VegetabiUum Flora3 Peru- 

 vianas et Chilensis,' containing characters of all their new genera 

 and of the species belonging to them, as well as of all the other spe- 

 cies described in the first volume of their ' Flora.' 



Of the immense collections made by Ruiz and Pavon and other 

 botanists in the Spanish possessions in America, a large portion was 

 purchased by Mr. Lambert between the years 1817 and 1824. These 

 were dispersed at the sale of his herbarium in 1842 ; but a part of 

 them was then obtained for the British Museum, where they are 

 now deposited. Little is known of the latter years of Pavon ; his 

 correspondence with Mr. Lambert appears to have ceased in 1 824, 

 and even the exact date of his death has not been ascertained. 



The President also announced that 19 Fellows, 2 Foreign Mem- 

 bers, and 1 Associate had been elected since the last Anniversary. 



At the election which subsequently took place, the Lord Bishop of 

 Norwich was re-elected President ; Edward Forster, Esq., Treasurer ; 

 John Joseph Bennett, Esq., Secretary ; and Richard Taylor, Esq., 

 Under-Secretary. The following five Fellows were elected into the 



