of Sibthorp' s 'Fauna Grreca.' 



007 



Tn March, 1787, Sibthorp and his draughtsman joined 

 company with Captain Emery and sailed for Cyprus, 

 taking the islands of Scio, Mytilene, Cos, and Rhodes on 

 their way. A stay of five weeks in Cyprus, as we are informed 

 by Mr. Druce, enabled Sibthorp to draw up in manuscript a 

 Flora and Fauna of that island. The " Flora," we are told, 

 comprehended 616 species of Plants, the "Fauna" 18 

 Mammals, 85 Birds, 19 Amphibians, and 100 Fishes. I 

 suspect that many of the drawings of birds in the third 

 volume of the ' Fauna Graeca ' were made by Bauer on this 

 occasion ; but they were no doubt added to at various places 

 on the mainland of Greece, where Dr. Sibthorp passed the 

 whole summer of 1787, returning to England at the end of 

 that year. Sibthorp was well received by his brothers in 

 science on his return, and, though weak in health, was urged 

 by Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Dryander, and other friends to 

 undertake another expedition for the purpose of rendering 

 his work more complete. Accordingly in 1794 he set out on 

 a second tour, and visited various places in Asia Minor, 

 Greece, and its islands. During this expedition, which 

 lasted till the autumn of 1795, Sibthorp caught a severe 

 chill, from which, in fact, he never recovered. The climates 

 of Devonshire and Bath were tried in vain, and he died of 

 consumption at Bath in February 1796, at the early age of 

 thirty-eight. Few names have a better claim for recognition 

 among the martyrs of science than that of John Sibthorp. 



Sibthorp by his will left an estate in Oxfordshire for the 

 purpose of finishing and publishing his ' Flora Grseca.' This 

 task was accomplished by Sir J. E. Smith, who drew up the 

 descriptions and characters of the plants, Sibthorp having 

 only sketched out the plan of the work. But unfortunately, 

 as we see, no provision was made for the completion and 

 publication of the ' Fauna Graeca/ for Sibthorp was primarily 

 a botanist. But the zoological drawings of Bauer, arranged 

 and bound in three volumes, as already mentioned, are still 

 carefully preserved in the library attached to the Botanical 

 Gardens at Oxford. 



