214 Rhodora [DECEMBER 
show only three meager specimens, it seems very unlikely that sufficient 
material could be found to warrant the belief that this is a species 
worthy of an unchallenged place in all our manuals. It must not be 
forgotten, moreover, that these three specimens all represent distinctly 
ancient collections and that detailed information on their occurrence 
at these stations is quite lacking, except in the case of Pringle's col- 
lection. From his reference to the species at Charlotte as a casual 
and the fact of his collection consisting of three different forms, it is no 
great stretch of the imagination to visualize a weedy field planted with 
imported seed and containing scattered plants of Crepis and doubtless 
various other foreign species. It surely would have been difficult, 
except in some such habitat, to pick up three such unusual forms in 
one collection. Every collector knows the value to be attached to 
the occurrence of introductions of this type. It is equally well known 
how frequently an unusual introduction occurs as a single plant or a 
small colony and how familiar the circumstance is of its failure to 
reappear the following year. At times, of course, the collector is 
himself the cause of this but more often it is only the regular course 
of a strange plant failing to establish itself. Whether this species 
actually occurs at any of these localities at the present day is a matter 
open to very considerable doubt. In all probability it is not of a 
vigorous and weedy character and has long since died out at all three 
stations. 
It seems scarcely necessary to suggest that the conclusion to be 
drawn from these notes is that much new evidence is needed on the 
presence of Crepis biennis on this continent to maintain it satisfactorily 
as an element of our flora. Until conclusive information is obtained 
of its actual establishment with us, it seems only just that it should 
be classed with the various other species of the genus (and is C. tec- 
torum above suspicion?) that appear from time to time, chiefly in 
cultivated fields, and disappear within a year or two. There is no 
question of the interest attaching to strange and curious weeds that 
are found on lawns or among alfalfa, grain or other crops, but it is 
urgently desirable that these waifs be not confused with introductions 
that really have become naturalized. 
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 
