SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. 



THE IDENTIFICATION OF WALTEE'S GRASSES. 



BY A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



o 



works treating of the flora of the 



eastern United States, using the binomial system of nomen- 

 clature, was the Flora Caroliniana by Thomas Walter, 

 << Agricola." It was published in London in 1788 at the 

 expense of J. Fraser. Many plants were described here 

 for the first time, and from a historical and nomenclatorial 

 standpoint this comparatively rare work is extremely im- 

 portant. The following extract from the preface to this 

 flora is interesting : — 



" Notam dubietatis ad nomen genericum ponere, et differentias typis 



italicis indicare, saepe contentus fuit. 



" Libertatem appellative assignandi paucis tantum concedendam sen- 

 tit, quamobrem iis qui in hac scientii meriti duces sunt, jus reliquit 

 dicendi quaenam sint nomina plantis nunc primum descriptis. 



" Stirpes plus mille hoc opere comprehendi mirum fortasse videatur, 

 quum cognitum fuerit vix non oranes collectas fuisse ex area non ampli- 

 ore qu&m quae linea bis duplicata quinquaginta millium passuum 

 circumscribi potest. Etiam multae adhuc latent, ut quotidie docet ex- 

 perientia. Gramina et plantae classi Cryptogamiae appertinentes, ple- 

 rumq. intacta remanent. Praeterea plures omittuntur arbores, frutices 

 et herbae, quorum fructiflcatio auctori nondum satis patuit." The pref- 

 ace is subscribed: " Carolinae Meridialis, ad Ripas Fluvii Santee, 30 

 Dec. 1787." 



Walter 



urn 



is now deposited in the Natural 

 History Section of the British Museum, South Kensington, 

 London, England- The herbarium seems to have been in 

 the possession of the Fraser family for many years after 

 its formation, and was presented in 1849 to the Linnaean 



(31) 



