Pietro Arduino praises Linnaeus as the most eminent botanist so far in the history of that science and admits that he has got all his knowledge and ability from Linnaeus’s works. Arduino has considered contacting Linnaeus directly for some time but not dared to do so, until now, when he can send Linnaeus a copy of one of his own works [Animadversionum botanicarum specimen]. Arduino sends specimens of plants he describes and asks for comments, and also of plants of which he has found no or unsatisfactory descriptions in the older literature. He asks Linnaeus to assess his efforts and answer his questions, if Linnaeus can find time for that, and he is especially interested to know if any of the species are really new. He wants to be able to attend more carefully to those in a final publication. Arduino encloses a copy of a paper [“Due lettere sopra varie sue osservazioni naturali”, by his brother, Giovanni Arduino, active in Venice, and wants Linnaeus’s comments also on that work.
Arduino offers Linnaeus seeds or dried specimens of plants growing in the garden at Padua or in the mountains around that city. Linnaeus just has to write and tell Arduino what he wants.
P.S. Arduino has close contacts with Domenico Vandelli, to whom Linnaeus has made reference to Arduino’s work. Arduino tries to answer those issues directly to Linnaeus.