196 Botanical Illustration [ch. 



scale (Text-fig. 99). Among the illustrations here repro- 

 duced will be seen one (Text-fig. 100) in which the seedling 

 of the Rose of Jericho is drawn side by side with the mature 

 plant, and another (Text-fig. 35) in which the structure of 

 a germinating Date is shown with great clearness. This 

 interest in seedlings gives a modern touch to the work of 

 Camerarius. 



A number of wood-blocks were cut at Lyons to illus- 

 trate d'Alechamps' great work, the ' Historia generalis 

 plantarum,' 1586 — 7. Many of these figures were taken 

 from the herbals of Fuchs, Mattioli and Dodoens, but they 

 were often embellished with representations of insects, and 

 detached leaves and flowers, scattered over the block with 

 no apparent object except to fill the space. This pecu- 

 liarity, which is shown in the engraving of Ornithogalum 

 reproduced in Text-fig. 5 1 , appears also in the illustrations 

 of a book on Simples, by Joannes Mesua, published in 

 Venice in 158 1. In certain other wood-cuts in d'Alechamps' 

 herbal, solid black is used in an effective fashion. This 

 is the case for instance in Text-fig. 101, which is also 

 interesting since two of the leaves bear the initials "M" 

 and "H," which were possibly those of the artist. 



Among less important botanical wood-engravings of the 

 sixteenth century we may mention those in the works of 

 Pierre Belon, such as ' De arboribus' (1553). In this book 

 there are some graceful wood-cuts of trees, one of which is 

 reproduced in Text-fig. 102. The initial letters used in the 

 present volume are taken from another of Belon's books 1 . 



Some specimens of the quaint little illustrations to 

 Castor Durante's 'Herbario Nuovo' of 1585 are shown 

 in Text-figs. 45, 68 and 103. It is interesting to compare 

 his drawing of the Waterlily (Text-fig. 68) with those of 

 the Venetian edition of the Latin 'Herbarius' of 1499 

 (Text-fig. 65), 'The Grete Herball' (Text-fig. 21), Brunfels' 

 ' Herbarum vivae eicones' of 1530 (Text-fig. 66) and de 

 l'Obel's ■ Kruydtbceck' of 1581 (Text-fig. 67). 



The engravings in Porta's ' Phytognomonica ' (1588) 

 and in Prospero Alpino's little book on Egyptian plants 

 (1592) are of good quality. Some curious examples of the 



1 Pierre Belon, Les Observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses me- 

 morables.... Paris, 1553. 



