244 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
importance to Dr. Gray’s monographic work upon the flora of North 
America were his studies of the Mexican flora upon the basis of the 
rich collections of Xantus, Ervendberg, Gregg, Wright, Schaffner, 
Parry, Palmer, and Pringle, and very full sets of the plants secured 
by these collectors are to be found in the Gray Herbarium, 
In 1870 Dr. Sereno Watson, who had been engaged at the Gray 
Herbarium in the identification of the extensive material from the 
Clarence King Exploration of the 4oth parallel, was made Assistant, 
and later (in 1880) Curator of the Herbarium, Dr. Gray still holding 
the directorship until his death in 1888. After the death of Dr. 
Watson in 1892, Dr. B. L. Robinson, the present curator was 
appointed. The staff now includes, besides the curator, two 
assistants, a collector, and a librarian. The bryophytes and thallo- 
phytes have been transferred to the Cryptogamic Herbarium of 
Harvard University, and the Gray Herbarium, thus restricted to the 
phaenogams and pteridophytes includes at present 320000 sheets 
holding from 1 to 5 specimens each, and representing the vegetation 
of all lands. The usual rate of increase is from 100oo to 14000 
sheets annually. Among the most noteworthy collections which 
have been partially or entirely incorporated in the Gray Herbarium 
are the herbaria of Jacques Gay, G. Curling Joad, John Ball (all rich 
in European plants) ; the herbarium of William Boott (containing a 
wealth of New England material chiefly from the suburbs of Boston, 
the White Mountains, and Vermont, also an extensive collection of 
Carices from both continents); the herbarium of Dr. George Thurber 
(noteworthy for its numerous critically examined grasses, as well as 
many plants of Rhode Island and northwestern Mexico), and the 
Compositae from the ptum. of Dr. F. W. Klatt, of Hamburg, 
specialist in that group. 
The Gray Herbarium is arranged according to Engler & Prantl’s 
Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien and is open on week-days from 9 A. M. 
until 5 P. M. except Saturday afternoons. The library contains 12000 
volumes and pamphlets. Except for the botanical serials, of which it 
contains a very full representation, it is nearly restricted to systematic 
works relating to the phaenogams and pteridophytes and is in its field 
very complete. 
( Zo be continued.) 
Vol. 3, No. 52, including pages 209 to 222 and plate 34, was issued 9 August, 
1901. 
