Vlll INTRODUCTION. 



for a time. He accordingly left Vienna, and reached England in 

 June of that year, whence he shortly sailed for his destination. 

 In July he arrived at Lisbon, where he f oimd himself unexpectedly 

 detained ; he therefore employed the time in collecting the plants 

 of the neighbourhood, and quickly formed an extensive collection. 

 He seems to have taken a great liking for the country, and 

 ultimately made arrangements for remaining in Portugal through 

 the winter, instead of proceeding to the Atlantic Islands. In six 

 weeks he acquired a good knowledge of the Portuguese language, 

 and then more thoroughly devoted himself to the study of the 

 local flora, visiting the Serras de Ointra, d'Arrabida, etc. On 

 the 27th October 1839 he was elected an honorary member of 

 the Pharmaceutical Society of Lisbon, and on the 18th June 1840 

 he received the diploma as corresponding member of the Society 

 of Medical Science of Lisbon. He never returned to Austria, 

 nor indeed left the place of his adoption, till 1853, except for 

 short visits to Paris and London. During this period he had 

 the care, at different times, of the Botanic Gardens of Lisbon 

 and Coimbra, and was superintendent of the Duke of Palmella's 

 gardens at Cintra and Alemtejo, as well as having the general 

 supervision of the Duke's gardens throughout Portugal. He also 

 explored a great part of the kingdom, and made very large collec- 

 tions, amounting at least to 11,000 specimens, which he forwarded 

 to the Unio Itineraria. In August 1841 Welwitsch had the 

 pleasure of meeting Robert Brown, who accompanied him for a 

 three days' excursion to the Valle de Zebro ; the remembrance of 

 this was always pleasant to Welwitsch, who used to show with 

 satisfaction a pocket lens which the great English botanist had 

 given him on that occasion. 



During the time he had charge of the royal garden and museum 

 of Ajuda, near Lisbon, he rendered useful services, attaching 

 names to the plants, etc. His intimate knowledge both of the 

 theory and practice of botany, his acquaintance with algEe and 

 mosses as well as with flowering plants, and his familiarity with 

 the flora of the country, placed him in a unique position in 

 Portugal. He was one of the founders of the Horticultural 

 Society of Lisbon, which was established in July 1844. 



In 1847 and 1848 Algarvia, the southernmost province of the 

 kingdom, which had been little known to botanists, was explored. 

 The lower plants were always the object of Dr. Welwitsch's special 

 study. In the neighbourhood of Lisbon, in the years 1847-52, he 

 added 250 of the larger Fungi to those enumerated in Brotero's 

 ' ' Flora," and in his zeal after Algse, in which he found the Tagus 

 very rich, he was accustomed to spend hours " up to his waist 

 in water " day after day. He wrote in " Flora '' of 1849 a note on 

 Arctotis acaulis Brot. ; he also contributed a useful paper to the 

 Bx)yal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon in 1850 on the Genera 

 of Portuguese seaweeds. Besides his botanical investigation, 

 Welwitsch devoted considerable time to the Mollusca and insects 

 of Portugal, and formed large collections. With reference to 



