Italian naturalist, Mateo Botteri was sent to Mexico by the Horticultural Society of London and settled in Orizaba. Born on the island of Lesina (present day Hvar, Croatia), off the coast of Dalmatia, he grew up in an active port and quickly developed an interest in travelling and learning foreign languages. His uncle was Canon of the Cathedral of Lesina and Botteri naturally began ecclesiastical studies and learning the Latin language, in which he excelled. Not content at being destined for a career within the clergy, however, Botteri wished to study astronomy in order to become a mariner and fulfil his desire to travel. He soon found himself on the Greek Islands of Ionia studying the natural sciences and in 1836 began to study botany also.

As his knowledge of the natural world increased Botteri's name became well known amongst the naturalists of Europe, with whom he maintained a growing correspondence. Between 1850 and 1853 he was sending letters across the continent, displaying an aptitude for languages and conversing about the marine plants of the Adriatic Sea which were the focus of his research in these years.

In 1853 the next phase of his life began when the Royal Horticultural Society of London sent him to Mexico in order to collect plants as a correspondent; the following year he arrived in Veracruz and travelled immediately to Orizaba where he was to be based. Initially Botteri collected zoological, cultural and artistic specimens as well as plants, destined for Europe to enhance the knowledge of Mexico's natural and cultural history. Unfortunately the Society fell on hard times and could not afford to continue his contract. Botteri was resigned to stay in Orizaba and found a way to survive modestly, largely due to the respect he had earned as a knowledgeable member of the community. He began to teach the children of wealthy families in geography, history and languages, being well educated in all of these fields. Proficient in at least ten languages he was also interested in philology. In 1863 Botteri returned to Europe to meet with some of his correspondents but was back in Mexico the following year to be named professor of natural history at the preparatory college of Orizaba.

In the 1870s, the infirmities of old age taking hold of Botteri, he asked his correspondent Charles Mohr (1824-1901) of Alabama to dispose of his large personal collection of plant specimens from Orizaba and Chiapas. Hoping to enhance the Mexican collections in U.S. herbaria by making several sets from Botteri's plants, Mohr wrote to his friend George W. Clinton (1807-1885, president of Buffalo Society of the Natural Sciences) asking if he thought they "could get the plants forwarded through the Smithsonian Institute and by that save the trouble of custum [sic] house transmission and charges for freight." Botteri's collections were thus spread far and wide across North America as well as Europe.

By this time well known throughout Mexico and indeed the world he had become a member of the Mexican Societies of Geography and Statistics (1865) and of Natural History (1873) and also the Zoological and Botanical Society of Vienna and the Entomological Society of Philadelphia. Botteri is responsible for founding the Museum of Orizaba and in 1866 was named Official of the Imperial Order of Guadalupe. At one point the authorities requested that he move to the capital in order to lecture at the colleges there, but he refused because he wished to remain in his new home town until he died. Unfortunately Botteri suffered from an attack of angina in 1877and soon passed away. From his zoological collections a bird from southern U.S.A. and Mexico, Botteri's Sparrow (Peucaea botterii), was named after him.

Sources:
Harper, F.,1930, "A Historical Sketch of Botteri's Sparrow", The Auk, 47(2): 177
Eckel, P.M., 2003, "Correspondence of Charles Mohr and G.W. Clinton, 1873", Res Botanica, Missouri Botanical Garden website:
http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/ResBot/hist/corrauth/MohrClinton/1_MohrClinton.htm, 3 Aug 2009
Langman, I. K., 1952, "Apuntes Biográficas del Sr. D. Mateo Botteri" Boletín de la Sociedad Botánica de México 14: 102-121.