NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 55 



Enumeration of the Species of PLANTS collected by Dr. C.C. Parry, and Messrs. 

 Elihu Hall am J. P. Harbour, during the Summer and Autumn of 1862, on and 

 near the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado Territory, lat. 39 41". 



BY ASA GRAY. 



An interesting account by Dr. Parry of his first explorations of the Rocky 

 Mountains in Colorado Territory, made in the summer of 1861, was published 

 in the American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. 33, 1862. This was fol- 

 lowed by an enumeration of the plants in the choice botanical collection which 

 he made, as determined by myself, Dr. Eugelmann and others. The import- 

 ance of this pioneer exploration, both in a physico-geographical and a botani- 

 cal point of view, decided Dr. Parry to repeat and extend it the following 

 year, to undertake more full and exact observations upon the configuration of 

 the district, and the altitude of the loftier peaks, and to secure a larger bo- 

 tanical collection. In the latter view, Dr. Parry was joined by two zealous and 

 enterprising botanical companions, Messrs. Hall and Harbour, of .'Illinois, who 

 devoted their entire energies to the collection of plants. The botanical col- 

 lection, accordingly, through these conjoint labors and explorations, is full, 

 excellent, and of great interest. Along with a fair proportion of species new 

 to science or new to the region, it brings to light and makes accessible to bot- 

 anists generally, many of the late Mr. Nuttall's discoveries made almost thirty 

 years ago, and even some of those of his first journey up the Missouri, almost 

 half a century ago, authentic specimens of which hardly exist, except in the 

 herbarium of the Academy, in that of Mr. Durand, at Philadelphia, and 

 in the Hookerian herbarium at Kew. 



It is in this regard, namely, on account of the intimate association of the 

 name and scientific career of Nuttall with Philadelphia, and especially with 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences, the publisher of many of his botanical 

 writings, and the proprietor of his principal botanical collections, that I have 

 deemed it peculiarly proper to offer the following enumeration for publication 

 in the Academy's Proceedings. 



This enumeration is but a reconnoisance of the collection in hand. It might 

 have been much extended by descriptions, remarks, and references ; and some 

 of the determinations may probably have to be reconsidered. But I deem it 

 best for our science to publish it at once, as it is, that it may be early in the 

 hands of botanists along with the distributed sets of specimens, thus en- 

 hancing the usefulness of the collection, and affording the widest opportunity 

 for the prompt correction of oversights, omissions, or mistakes on my part, 

 of which there may be not a few. 



It should be remarked that the general collection, although made by the three 

 associates conjointly, is distributed under the tickets of Messrs. Hall and Har- 

 bour, upon whom indeed the labor of the collection more immediately de- 

 volved, and is numbered quite independently of Dr. Parry's collection of 1861, 

 thus avoiding all danger of confusion between the two. But a small separate 

 collection made by Dr. Parry late in the summer, at stations visited by him- 

 self alone, which supplements or helps out the general collection, bears Dr. 

 Parry's numbers of the former year, (which, being already published, are here 

 mentioned only when there is some occasion for it, ) or, when of plants not in 

 that collection, the numbers are in continuation of it, viz. : 398, 399, and so 

 on. Reference to these additional numbers is chiefly made in foot-notes, to 

 which also the characters of new species, &c, are consigned. 



The plants were numbered and distributed into sets by Messrs. Hall and 

 Harbour before they were seen by me, and a fall set was supplied to me for 

 examination, which serves as a basis for the following list. This accounts 

 for a few misplacements, and also for the occasional mixture of two species 

 1863.] 



