372 Brittox : Thomas Conrad Porter 



denced by the numerous specimens preserved in the herbarium of 



Columbia University. 



Enough has been said in the preceding paragraphs to indicate 

 the bent of Dr. Porter's botanical activity. He was primarily a 

 cooperator in the work of other students; his tendency was to 

 help others, and this almost over-generous nature militated against 

 his own original work becoming as prominent as its importance 

 warranted. His very sociable personality further illustrates this 

 tendency ; he disliked to be alone and his best observations were 

 always made in the company of others. He never missed an op- 

 portunity of participating in the field excursions of the Torrey 

 Club or of the Philadelphia Botanical Club, both of which organi- 

 zations claimed him as an honored and active member, and whose 

 formal meetings he occasionally attended. He was a fluent and 

 forceful speaker and his addresses received the closest attention. 



Dr. Porter's knowledge of plant habitats and environment 

 drawn from many years of close observation was remarkable. 

 Over and over again I have known him to remark that a locality 

 visited for the first time, was a ^ likely place" for certain species 

 to grow and the chances were all in favor of the plant being found 

 within the next few minutes. The terminology and philosophic 

 methods of modern ecology came in too late in his life for him to 

 appreciate their true value, but his knowledge of the facts on which 

 that science is based was wonderfully broad. 



In recognition of Dr. Porter's services to botanical science the 

 genera Porterella in the Lobeliaceae and Porteranthus in the 

 Rosaceae, have been dedicated to him ; species or subspecies have 

 also been named in his honor in the genera Gymnolomia, Aster, 

 Viola, Panicnm, Mnhlenbergia, Calamagrostis, Browns, Eriogomtm, 

 Ranunculus, Crataegus, Senecio, Desmatodon, Ortho trie hum, and 

 others. His published botanical papers include over fifty titles. 

 He described as new to science species or subspecies in the 

 genera Aster, Solidago, Carex, Avena, Melica, Caloehortus, Habe- 

 naria, Boehmeria, Anemone, Clematis, Arabis, Fragaria, Geuvi, 

 Prnmis, Trifoliitm, Astragalus, Gerardia, Eupatorium, Laeinaria, 

 Aplopappus, Erigerou, and Cyperns. 



While botany is the science in which his life work will most 

 permanently be recorded, it was by no means the only study in 



