Vir Doctissime
Observationes quas in primam paginam notandas desiderasti, maxime laudo, easque non modo >non[a]< necessarias censeo sed et maxime utiles.
Hinc vides Numeros in margine majori nunc exprimi charactere
Nomen genericum quoque majoribus litteris
Synonyma ubivis eodem characteris genere expressa
Citationes Auctorum eadem quoque forma.
Fateor tamen partes fructificationis parum sordide exprimi. Sed cum his literis idem continget quod evenit secunda tabula Regni Mineralis; ista enim tabula tempore correctionis Domino Lawsono mihique valde displicebat, correcta tamen cum erat literis bene elotis non amplius displicebat. Transmitto itaque hanc chartulam, ut amplius examines cum Nobiliss[imo] Dom[ino] Cliffortio, neque dubito quin ipsi maxime placebit, Cujus[b] et Tuum Judicium quam primum mihi patefacias desidero, quippe tum juxta hanc normam strenue et diligenter opus prosequar.
Quod ad citationes Rivini attinet, dubito an omnes adscripseris, hinc capita duabus primis philyris comprehensa ad verbum hic descripta vides.
Phillyrea *[1] Tournef. 367. Vaill. A.G. 1722{tab}4
Olea * Tournef. 370. Vaill. A.G. 1722{tab}5
Ligustrum * Tournef. 367{tab}6
Jasminum * Tournef. 368{tab}7
Syringa * Lilac. Tournef. 372{tab}8
Circaea * Tournef. 155{tab}9
Veronica * Tournef. 60{tab}10
Paederota. Bonarota Mich. 15{tab}11
Iusticia. Houst. A.B. [sic][c] Adhatoda Tournef. 79. Ecbolium Riv.{tab}12
Lathraea.[2] Clandestina Tourn. 424{tab}13
Pinguicula * Tournef. 74{tab}14
Utricularia * Lentibularia Riv. I.114 [?] Vaill. A.G. 1719. Dill. gen. 6.{tab}15
Salvia * Tournef. 83. Horminum Tournef. 82. Sclarea Tournef. 82.{tab}16
Monarda *{tab}17
Rosmarinus * Tournef. 92{tab}18
Lycopus * Tournef. 89{tab}19
Morina Tournef. 480. Diotheca[3] Vaill. A.G. 1722{tab}20
Valeriana * Tournef. 52. Vaill. A.G. 1>7<22. Valerianella Tournef. Vaill. Valerianoides. Vaill.{tab}21
Boerhavia[4] † Vaill. Serm. Antanisophyllum Vaill. A.G. 1722{tab}22[5]
Scire quoque desideras ultimos numeros; ecce decem ultimi hi sunt.
181 Nerium. 182 Cynanchum. 183 Stapelia. 184 Asclepias. 185 Periploca. 186 Ceropegia. 187 Apocynum. 188 Plumeria. 189 Cameraria. 190 Tabernaemontana.[6]
Quaeso dicas mihi: Melones petrificati, de quibus Thomas de Bruyn, Voyage au Levant, p. 312, ad quam classem pertinent et quale est Animal Gerbo dictum, ibid. pag. 406, tab. 209, et tab. 55, p. 161 mirum animal mures devorans repraesentat.
Avis Diomedea qualis est Avis, ad quam classem in Systemate tuo pertinet? [7]
In Ordine Anserum ore dentato-serrato[d] finem claudit Genus Lari, ubi inter species Ejus ponis Sternam. Me multum devincires, si velles communicare an haec sit Hirundo marina vel alia avis et ubinam descripta.[8]
Haec heri scripta nescio quo fato non ad Te transmissa, interim hodie accepi Epistolam Vestram, valde gavisus exemplaria ad Te missa bene delata et Tibi non ingrata. Jucundissime Lawsonus et Ego audimus conquerentes de nimio pretio, atque omnes putant quod postea viliori pretio quam 50 stuferis sibi poterunt comparare, verum Lawsonus et Ego nullum exemplar viliori pretio unquam dimittemus; lucrum enim inde nolumus, sed si (quod sine dubio per tempus fiet) inde redeat, ad Te remittere in animo habemus.
Si Verba Tournef. in num. 2 et verba Juss. Dill. Dill. in[e] num. 2[f] cursive sint posita ut Vaill. in num. s[equenti], puto hanc primam paginam se bene habere, et ad quam reliqua debent dirigi. Expecto itaque responsum Vestrum, ac Domino Cliffortio inclusam chartulam demonstres, Ipsique dicas quod cum nitide sit impressa omnes literae se melius sint proditurae.
Vale et Tibi addictissimum scias
{div-signature}Joan[nem] Fred[ericum] Gronovium
Lugd[uni] Bat[avorum] 3 Jan[uarii] 1736.
{div-address}[address] Mijn Heer / Mijn Heer Carolus Linnaeus Med[icinae] Doct[or] ten huyse de Wele[del]geb[oren] H[ee]r en M[ijnhee]r George Cliffort te Amsterdam.
TEXTUAL NOTES
a. [non supra lineam add. Gronovius]
b. [Cujus ex cujus corr. Gronovius]
c. Immo A[cta] [Societatis] A[nglicanae]
d. [dentato-serrato scripsi; dentato serratum scripsit Gronovius]
e. [in ex litteris illegibilibus corr. Gronovius]
f. [Immo 3]
EXPLANATORY NOTES
1. In the printed version of 1737, the asterisk * has been replaced by the crux †. See “Ratio operis”, no. 24: “Asteriscum * adposui ubi plantas vivas examinare licuit: Crucem † ubi siccas solum habere potui; Et am notam, ubi nil vidi; sed Authoribus fisus, eorumque, quantum videre licuit, claris iconibus.“
2. The printed version contains the asterisk *, indicating that Linnaeus has examined a living plant. See supra no. 1.
3. The printed version has Diototheca.
4. The printed version has Boerhaavia.
5. Gronovius’s doubts as to the exhaustiveness of Linnaeus’s references to Rivinus proved to be justified. In the printed version of Genera plantarum, the following references were added: Veronica * Tournef. 60. Riv. I.137-149. Beccabunga Riv. I.150 (no. 10); Justicia. Houst. A.A. Adhatoda Tournef. 79. Ecbolium Riv. I.129 (no. 12); Utricularia * Lentibularia Riv. I.114. Vaill. A.G. 1719. Dill. gen. 6 (no. 15); Monarda * Origanum spurium Riv. I.89 (no. 17); Rosmarinus * Tournef. 92. Riv. I.53 (no. 18); Lycopus * Tournef. 89. Pseudo-Marrubium Riv. I.30 (no. 19).
6. Gronovius seems to enumerate the ten last genera which he has received from Linnaeus in order to enable him to continue his work in the correct numerical order.
7. In the hand-written notes to the sixth edition of Systema naturae (Stockholm 1748), Linnaeus added a description of the bird diomedea, which he defined as a kind of pelecanus and identified with the albitros described by Grew, Musaeum, 6, f. 1. As such the bird diomedea belonged to the order of the anseres.
8. In the description of Anseres in the sixth edition of Systema naturae (Stockholm 1748), sterna is distinguished from larus as a separate genus in its own right (p. 24, nos. 53 and 54). The hirundo marina appears to be one of the species belonging to the genus sterna.