l<r THE nOTANI-T> OF I'MIf.ADKI.rillA. 



Durand arranged with liim to furnish the required collec- 

 tion. After the bargain was made. Ratinesque, always poor, 

 contrived to get his pay in advance. The time at whieh 

 tlie collection was to he delivered had expired, and the day 

 upon which the vessel was to sail was close at hand, and 

 still the plants were not delivered. At last, on the very day 

 of the sailing of the vessel, Ratinesque appeared with his 

 parcels of specimens. Durand had only time for a hasty 

 inspection and found that the bundles consisted of a lot 

 of worthless ruhhish. lie was highly mortified at being 

 obliged to send his friend, who had already paid a liberal 

 price, such a poor return, and he determined to make 

 amends by making a collection himself. With this view 

 he began to herborize, and in the course of a few years sent 

 to his friend a remittance of plants that was every way 

 satisfactory. Having begun the study in this manner, he 

 formed for it a real love which remained with him through 

 life. 



.Mr. Durand collected very thoroughly in the neighbor- 

 hood of Philadelphia, and was the constant friend of all the 

 botanists who visited the city. Although he never said so 

 directly, he no doubt did much to assist Nuttall. Xuttall 

 was, by the way, an eccentric botanist, Although they 

 met so frequently at the Academy and elsewhere, and were, 

 so to speak, botanically intimate, yet Durand never knew 

 how and where Nuttall lived. When Mr. Durand retired 

 from business it was his desire to devote' himself to botany, 

 but at that time his eyesight failed him to such a degree as 

 to prevent him from too close application to a study that 

 requires correct observation. 



His principal contributions to botanical literature were: 



