THE
ESSEX NATURALIST:
BEING THE
Journal of the Essex Field Club.
VOLUME XVIII.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF MYCETOZOA, DEDICATED
TO SAMUEL DALE, M.D., IN MICHELI'S "NOVA
PLANTARUM GENERA," 1729.
By MISS GULIELMA LISTER, F.L.S,
A LIVELY interest in the Essex physician and botanist,
Samuel Dale, has been aroused in recent years in the
members of our Club owing to the efforts and writings of Mr.
Miller Christy and Prof. Boulger.
A small fact, not mentioned in either of their memoirs, is the
following:—
One of the plates (Tab. 96) in Nova Plantarum Genera,
a work written by the illustrious Italian botanist, Pietro Antonio
Micheli, and published in 1729, is dedicated to Dale in the
words "Auspiciis Samuelis Dale insignis medici et botanici."
A further interest may be found in the occurrence that this
plate and the two preceding are devoted to the representation
of Mycetozoa, and are the first good illustrations of the group
that exist. They illustrate the genera Lycogala, Mucilago,
Fuligo, Reticularia, Stemonitis and Arcyria—according to modern
nomenclature. The first names, Lycogala and Mucilago, are two
of those given by Micheli himself, and it is satisfactory that they
are still retained for two of the species which he described
under these genera. With his insight into the relations of
plants, which was far in advance of the botanists of his day,
he recognized a large number of species of Mycetozoa and placed
them in genera by themselves, although he regarded them as
fungi related to Puff-balls.
The copper-plate engravings give spirited representations
of the objects depicted. They were probably neither engraved
nor drawn by Micheli, who it is said was not an expert draughts-
man, but they must at least have been executed under his