INTO THE FLORA OF CHINA. 
123 
published in the Memoirs of the Soc. of Naturalists of Moscow, 
in 1812. (In French.) In an introductory note it is stated, that 
the original M. S. of this paper exists in the Archives of the 
Foreign Office at Moscow and had been communicated to the 
Society by Mr. Mol in of sky, councillor of state. It seems that 
this catalogue, had been drawn up by Incarville at the request 
of Bernh. Jussieu, his instructor. The Chinese characters 
accompanying the native names of plants, given in the M. S. 
have been omitted in the printing. Dr. Fischer, inspector of 
the botanical garden at Gorenki (subsequently Director of the 
Bot. Garden St. Petersburg) has supplied some scientific 
botanical names, for Incarville, besides the Chinese names, 
gives only old French popular appellations of plants. Even at 
the time when Incarville 1 s paper was published the Flora of 
Peking had not yet been investigated by men of science and I 
venture to believe, that in the herbariums of the Botan. 
Garden and of the Academy in St. Petersburg, which now are 
so abundantly provided with plants from North-China, there 
was then hardly a specimen procured from Peking. Thus 
Fischer, in commenting on Incarville’s accounts merely identi¬ 
fies the old French names of plants with the scientific Latin 
genus names. Incarville notices about 260 Peking plants or 
drugs, adds generally the Chinese names and occasionally some 
particulars regarding the economical uses of these plants. As I 
am tolerably well acquainted with the Flora of North-China 
and as I know also the popular names applied by the Chinese 
to the cultivated and some wild growing plants, I find no 
difficulty in ascertaining the plants mentioned by Incarville. 
But it would draw out my paper to an unconscionable length, 
were I to reproduce Incarville’s enumeration and to comment 
on it. 
From some allusions in Incarville’s memoir it can be inferred 
that he used to keep up a correspondence with some of 
the learned academicians in St. Petersburg. He refers to 
a letter Kraslieninikop had written to him about some seeds 
received from Peking. His collections destined for Jussieu, 
Inc. used to intrust to the care of the Russian caravans from 
Kiakhta (resp. Moscow) which every three years visited 
Peking. Jussieu seems to have forwarded European plants to 
Inc. by the same way, for in one instance the latter speaks of 
some bulbs and seeds sent by Jussieu in 1748, and of the delay 
in their transmission from Kiakhta by the Russian caravan. 
In Koch’s Dendrology, II. 307. I find a statement, that Adr. 
Jussieu after his death left a M. S. by Incarville, relating his 
