16 ESS A YS. 



time thirty or forty thousand species. Of the separate her- 

 baria, the most interesting to us is that made in this country 

 by the elder Michaux, from whose specimens and notes the 

 learned Richard prepared the " Flora Boreali- Americana." 



Michaux himself, although an excellent and industrious 

 collector and observer, was by no means qualified for author- 

 ship ; and it is to L. C. Richard that the sagacious observa- 

 tions, and the elegant, terse, and highly characteristic specific 

 phrases of this work are entirely due. There is also the very 

 complete Newfoundland collection of La Pylaie, comprising 

 about 300 species, and a set of Berlandier's Texan and Mexican 

 plants, as well as numerous herbaria less directly connected 

 with North American botany, which we have not room to 

 enumerate. Here, however, we do not find the herbaria of 

 several authors which we should have expected. That of 

 Lamarck, for instance, is in the possession of Professor Rceper 

 at Rostock, on the shores of the Baltic ; that of Poiret belongs 

 to Moquin-Tandon of Toulouse ; that of Bosc, to Professor 

 Moretti of Pavia ; and the proper herbarium of the late Des- 

 fontaines, which however still remains at Paris, now forms a 

 part of the very large and valuable collection of Mr. Webb. 

 The herbarium of Mr. Webb, although of recent establishment, 

 is only second to that of Baron Delessert ; the two being far 

 the largest private collections in France, and comprising not 

 only many older herbaria, but also, as far as possible, full sets 

 of the plants of recent collectors. The former contains many 

 of Michaux's plants (derived from the herbarium of Desfon- 

 taines), a North American collection, sent by Nuttall to the 

 late Mr. Mercier of Geneva, a full set of Drummond's collec- 

 tions in the United States and Texas, etc. The latter also 

 comprises many plants of Michaux, derived from Ventenat's 

 herbarium, complete sets of Drummond's collections, etc. 

 But a more important, because original and perhaps complete, 

 set of the plants of Michaux is found in the herbarium of the 

 late Richard, now in possession of his son, Professor Achille 

 Richard, which even contains a few species which do not ex- 

 ist in the herbarium at the Royal Museum. The herbarium 

 of the celebrated Jussieu, a fine collection, which is scrupu- 



