Letter 3240

Breyne thanks Sloane for the letter and book, the second volume of the Natural History of Jamaica. He plans on sending Sloane some amber samples and other curiosities in the spring. Breyne discusses the portions of Sloane’s book he found interesting. He requests the recent editions of the Philosophical Transactions and ‘Mr Bradley’s Treatises of Succulent Plants’. He has sent a box to the Royal Society and hopes they find it useful. Breyne discusses English scholarship, mentioning Mr Petiver. He is trying to procure lilies for his ‘Botanick Garden’. Johann Philipp Breyne (1680-1764) was a German botanist, zoologist, and entomologist known primarily for his work on the Polish cochineal, or Porphyrophora polonica, used in red dye production. He became a fellow of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 1715 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Philipp_Breyne).