FLORA OF OXFORDSHIRE. 385 
opinion, as much doubt had existed respecting it. Linneus removed 
these difficulties with his natural perspicuity. A second and third plant 
of which they felt uncertain were also made clear by Linneus with 
perfect ease. Dillenius was surprised, and his companion remarked ‘he 
could see no confusion in Linneus.’ Then grew up a mutual liking, and 
it was not till Linnzus was about to leave Oxford that he remarked to 
Dillenius he hoped he had brought no confusion there, when the Professor 
took the opportunity of apologizing for the ungracious word. 
In 1741 Dillenius published his Historia Muscorum at a guinea per 
copy, 250 copies being printed. It is a quarto volume of 576 pages, con- 
taining the synonyms, history, and descriptions of above 600 mosses; with 
85 plates etched by Dillenius himself. In spite of subsequent improve- 
ments the book is never likely to become less valuable, as there were 
only a limited number printed. Sir James Smith states that he saw 
some copies ‘ fairly lettered and untouched on the shelves of collectors as 
A History of the Muscovites, 
Lycopodium clavatum is first made known as an Oxford plant in this 
work. The type specimens of his Mosses are still preserved in the Oxford 
Herbarium, and also many of the plants which he described in the 
Synopsis; to these he added specimens which he collected during his 
residence at Oxford, many_of these being additions to our Flora. They 
include Equisetum palustre 1744, Bellis perennis 1721, Enanthe silat- 
folia, Galium palustre, Asperula cynanchica, Thymus serpyllum, Salvia 
pratensis 1730, Plantago major var. intermedia, P. Coronopus 1745, Hip- 
pocrepis comosa, Orchis Simia, Sclerochloa rigida, Scirpus palustris, 
Rosa mollis, Gentiana campestris, Potamogeton polygonifolius, Cardamine 
flexuosa ; and from Berkshire Hypericum quadrangulum, Galium sazatile, 
G. uliginosum, Veronica officinalis, and Gymnadenia Conopsea. 
In the Garden Library is a copy of the Dillenian Ray with the plates 
coloured by Dillenius himself, and in the Bodleian Library one of the 
Hortus Elthamensis also coloured by him. About 250 unpublished 
coloured drawings of Fungi by Dillenius, very neatly executed, are also 
in the Garden Collection; these, with his books, MSS., and specimens, 
were bought by Dr. Humphrey Sibthorp from Dillenius’ executors, after 
his death, which tock place in 1747 from an apopleptic fit, at the age of 60. 
There is a portrait of him in the Bodleian Library from which a print was 
published in the Annals of Botany. 
James Sherard, brother of the Consul and owner of the Eltham 
Garden, occasionally visited Oxfordshire, Linaria repens being discovered 
by him at Henley. His treatment of Dillenius has already been noticed. 
Dr. Humphrey Sibthorp succeeded Dillenius, as Sherardian Professor, 
he is said to have given one not very successful lecture, and as Sir James 
Smith says every scientific object slept during the 40 years he held the 
post. The genus Sibthorpia was dedicated to him by Linneus and not, 
as is frequently supposed, to his illustrious son. 
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