Cadwallader Colden with Gronovius, Linnceus, fyc. 107 



1. Be pleased to give me a good history of your life ; there is 

 nothing we* want so much as a Biographia Botanicorum : the 

 old were very negligent in that. There are many of which we 

 hardly know any thing but the name ; nay, if we shall get to 

 the history of their life, we are obliged to pick up here and there 

 a word in the writings of their contemporaries. At our days we 

 take a more trouble in that. I have already got the history of 

 Mr. Bartram's life, and of Clayton's. I hope Dr. Gronovius will 

 give out his vitce historiam. 



2. If it was not too much trouble to give me a catalogue of all 

 the Quadrupeds you have any knowledge of to be here in North 

 America, both wild and tame. My catalogue of them is this; 

 of wild, Panther, Wild cat, Loup, .... Martin, Skunk, Mink, 

 Fischer, Possum, Otter, Seal, Wolf, Red fox, Gray fox, Fox 

 with a cross upon the back, Silver-colored fox, Black fox, White 

 fox, Bear, White bear, Raccoon, Ground-hog, Porcupine, Talpa, 

 Vespertilio, Rabbit, Hare ; of Squirrel-kind, the Gray, Red, 

 Black, Flying, Ground, White ; Beaver, Musk-rat, Deer, Elg 

 [ElkJ, Wild oxen of two sorts. 



Is there more than one sort of Panther? 



Is there more than one sort of Wild-cat ? The French in 

 Canada made a distinction between Chat sauvage and Loup . . . 



Is there any Mustela vulgaris or Weasel, colore albo, vel alio 

 colore ? 



Is there any Opossum so far to north as where you lives ? 



Are the Seals seen in Hudson's River ? 



Is there more than one sort of Wolfs ? 



Is there any white Bears different from that at Hudson's Bay ? 



Is it more than one sort of Porcupine ? 



Is it more than one sort of Bat, or Vespertilio ? 



How many sorts of Rat-kind ? 



Is there more than one sort of Deer ? The French make dis- 

 tinction between Cerf and Chevreuil. 



Have you heard any thing of the Moose-deer ? 



Pray, sir, give me a short catalogue of all the fishes you know 

 to be in fresh water in your province. What is your opinion 

 why people lose their teeths so soon in this country ? 



Will you not wonder to hear that I have found here in Amer- 

 ica, growing wild, the Colocassia, or Faba Egyptia veterum ; 

 which is that species of Nymphcea which you will find in Lin- 

 ncei Flora Zeylanica ? 



