Odoardo Beccari was an Italian naturalist born in 1843. A detailed account of his life and accomplishments can be found here: http://www.conchology.be/?t=9001&id=12546
His extensive botanical exploration in the 1860s in the areas around Borneo and New Guinea led to the publication of his 3 volume work: Malesia, raccolta d'osservazioni lese e papuano, between 1877 and1889.
The complete three volume publication is available in its original Italian online: http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001494551?type%5B%5D=all&lookfor%5B%5D=beccari%20Malesia&ft (Link was not working when checked in February, 2021)
Volume I is devoted to palms and the other two volumes treat various families of plants. A major portion of the second volume (pages 80 to 230 and diagram tables 8 to 54) is devoted to Rubiaceous ant-plants.
I have retained the services of an excellent translator and will be releasing an English translation of some of Beccari’s ant-plant material over the next several years. The first release was his tables of drawings with the translation of their labeling. You can find that download and other more recent downloads below.
Beccari’s tables with labels:
The first portion of Beccari’s Rubiaceous Ant-plant work that I have available for release is the full set of his tables (i.e. drawings); along with the translated labels for the tables. This amounts to 54 tables, mostly Hydnophytums, but some Myrmecodias and a few other genera as well.
The numbering on his tables was difficult to read so I redid it with a larger font. I also constructed an index to the tables. I had considered a modest PayPal charge for this file to recoup my translator fees but in the end, at least for now, this file is free.
I had hoped to make Beccari’s drawing bigger but with the zoom capability on .pdf files that turned out not to be necessary. I think you will find the quality of these drawings and the translation work to be outstanding. Please let me know it you find mistakes or have feedback, good or bad.
The pdf file (at 12 MB) was too large for my web host so I had to divide it into two parts.
This first part is tables VIII to XXXVIII and label pages 213 to 221. To download it click here:
DOWNLOAD BECCARI TABLES, PART 1, NOW
This second part is tables XXXIX to LIV and label pages 222 to 227. To download it click here:
DOWNLOAD BECCARI TABLES, PART 2, NOW
If you have any problem with the downloads please email me and I will send the files to you attached to a return email. frankinmi@aol.com frankinmi@aol.com