THE PLANT WORLD 131 



The degree of D. D. was conferred upon liim in 1865 by Rutgers 

 College, and that of LL. D. by Franklin and Marshall College in 1880. 

 Both of these degrees were richly deserved, as he was a thorough bib- 

 lical scholar and theologian, as well as a fine all-round scholar, a poet 

 and master of both ancient and modern languages. 



Besides manj^ purely literary productions, he was the author of 

 some fifty botanical papers, the first of which was a " List of Plants col- 

 lected by Mr. Thaddeus A, Culbertson on an Expedition to the Mau- 

 vaises Terres and Upper Missouri in 1850," published in 1850 in the 

 Fifth Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, and the last in the 

 Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Clnh for September, 1900, entitled "A 

 new Variety of Azalea nudiflora L." 



For many years his attention was directed toward obtaining ma- 

 terial for a flora of Pennsylvania, and arrangements had been made 

 only a short time before his death for the publication of this work. 

 Provision fortunately was made in his will for the carrying out of the 

 plan. 



Particularly pleasing to him was the reinstatement about a j'ear 

 ago of the genus Porterella, dedicated to him in 1872 by Torrey, but 

 afterwards wrongly referred to the Old World genus Laurentia. Speci- 

 mens upon which Porterella was founded were collected by him [in 

 Wyoming in 1871, and the writer has heard him narrate the particulars 

 about finding a patch several square feet in extent completely covered 

 by plants bearing a profusion of delicate blue flowers. His name is 

 also commemorated in Porteranthus, an eastern rosaceous genus of two 

 handsome species. ' 



Although the author of comparative!}^ few plant names, his work 

 was always well done, and will stand the test of time better than that 

 of some of his more voluminous contemporaries. If we were trying to 

 find fault with him, we would say that he was perhaps too cautious, as 

 well as too generous. By far the greater part of his work went in the 

 shape of specimens and notes to enrich the collections and writings of 

 others, for which he often received no public acknowledgment. 



We can find no fitter conclusion than the words of Mr. Frank Dief- 

 fenderfer, of this city, a life-long friend: 



" Dr. Porter was a genial man and a favorite with those who knew 

 him. Among his friends he was most companionable. His large at- 

 tainments, his fine literary tastes and his broad scholarship gave him 

 command of a wide range of knowledge, which was certain to make 

 itself heard and appreciated when the mood was upon him. He will 

 always stand among the foremost of the sons of his native State, and 

 his death removes a most genial personality from a large circle of 

 attached friends. 



Lancaster, Pa. 



