161 
still it is from Linn^us and his foUowers that we in the 
present age date our knowledge. 
Forskahl (a pupil of Linnaeus) arrived in 1761 in Egypt, 
and it was from his Flora Egyptiaco-Arabica that Europe 
first became acquainted with the Egyptian flora. He 
appears to have been a most extraordinary man. He was 
robbed and ill-treated and (it is reported) sold as a slave in 
Egypt. Though sufiering from constitutional timidity, and 
often nearly broken down by .sickness, the extraordinary 
enCTgyand perseverance with which he examined the vege- 
tation of Egypt and Arabia produced a work unsurpassed 
in its day. The hardships he underwent prevented his 
surviving to publish it. We are indebted to his friend 
Niebuhr for its appearance, and it is remarkable as being 
one of the first books in which the relation of vegetation to 
climate is taken as an object of importance. For many 
years the Flora Egyptiaco-Arabica was the only good 
account we had of the plants of those countries. In the 
following list I have aimed at giving his synonymes of all 
the plants enumerated. 
Delile subsequently published in the Botanique de I’Ex- 
pedition d’Eg^pt a very valuable account of its vegetation, 
with excellent engravings. 
In later years Ehrenberg and Hemprich, Dr. Kuppel, 
Aucher Eloy, Bond, Schimper, Boissier, Kralik, and more' 
recently Samaritan!, Cadet de Eontenay, and Dr. Gaillardot, 
have examined this district. 
It does not appear to have attracted the attention of any 
Englishman except Henry Calvert, Vice-Consul at Alex- 
andria, to whom I am greatly indebted for assistance. 
