Britton: Thomas Conrad Porter 371 



important pioneer work in the study of the Rocky Mountain flora 

 in connection with the U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey of the Ter- 

 ritories in 1869-74 under Dr. F. V. Hayden, and these speci- 

 mens are historically important inasmuch as comparatively few 

 duplicates were obtained. Dr. Porter visited Wyoming and Colo- 

 rado while engaged in this study in company with his friend Dr. 

 Joseph Leidy, of Philadelphia. 



Dr. Porter's generous cooperation in the work which it has 

 fallen to the writer io direct has been of the greatest assistance. 



I first made his personal acquaintance in 1878, when beginning the 

 bringing together of materials for the Preliminary Catalogue of 

 New Jersey Plants, published by the Geological Survey of that 

 State in 1 880. Learning that this work was in progress he promptly 

 offered to put at my disposal all the notes and specimens accumu- 

 lated by him during many years of observation of the flora of the 

 Delaware River valley and these served to notably improve the 

 records of local distribution and habitat of the plants of the State. 

 During the ten years from 1880 to 1890 while the further botanical 

 exploration of the State was going forward, preparatory to the 

 publication of the Catalogue of Plants, in the final reports of the 

 State Geologist the late Geo. H. Cook, Dr. Porter and I were in 



1 



constant communication, and he joined me in many collecting trips 

 besides making numerous individual visits to various parts of the 

 State in the interests of this work. 



■ 



In 1890, when I commenced writing "Illustrated Flora" this 

 cooperation was enthusiastically continued and many of the new 

 facts brought out in that book were obtained from studies with 

 him in the field or in his herbarium ; his advice and aid were also 

 freely given during the work for the establishment of the New 

 York Botanical Garden, and he supplied up to the time when fail- 

 ing health restricted his activity many valuable specimens for the 

 collections of that institution. Dr. Porter also contributed much 

 to the building of the botanical collections of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. During the life of the late Dr. 

 Asa Gray he was in constant communication with him relative to 

 the progress of the " Synoptical Flora of North America," and 

 his herbarium was greatly enriched by contributions of Dr. Porter's 

 notes and specimens ; his cooperation with Dr. Torrey is also evi- 



