1919] BRIEFER ARTICLES 367 



and administrative burdens in order that he might devote his entire time 

 and energies to the completion of his monographic studies on the fleshy 

 fungi of North America. 



In the vigorous and enthusiastic pursuit of this enterprise he made 

 an extensive collecting trip through the Atlantic seaboard states from 

 Florida to the District of Columbia in the spring and summer of 1918. 

 Returning to Ithaca in September he left after an all too short rest for 

 the Pacific Coast, there to pursue his studies of the fleshy fungus flora 

 of that region. On this trip he was without any assistant and most of 

 the time alone. A former student, Dr. Adeline Ames, spent a few days 

 collecting with him in the region about Tacoma, Washington, shortly 

 before his death. 



Urged by the wonderful variety and abundance of the forms he 

 found and an indomitable enthusiasm for his work, he apparently 

 labored beyond his strength and exposed himself to unusual hardships. 

 He took a hea\y cold from exposure on a trip into the mountains near 

 Tacoma, Washington, which rapidly developed into influenza followed 

 by pneumonia. He died in the City Hospital at Tacoma far from friends 

 and kindred, another martyr to the cause of botanical science. 



Professor Frye of the University of Washington upon news of his 

 death went immediately to Tacoma to learn the details and to rescue 

 his notes and collections. Dr. Ames also went again to Tacoma shortly 

 thereafter. Thanks to their generous and painstaking efforts we have 

 a full account of Professor Atkinson's last days. This record gives us 

 a wonderful insight into the man's devotion to his work and a fuller 

 appreciation of his greatness. 



Interested primarily in entomology in the early days of his career, 

 he soon turned to the botanical field, and especially mycology, in which 

 perhaps he has made his most notable investigations. He was without 

 doubt the greatest American student of the fleshy Basidiomycetes. His 

 numerous contributions in this field and a remarkably large and excep- 

 tionally excellent collection of photographs, together with specimens 

 and notes on these forms not only American but European attest his 

 preeminence in this field. He was, however, a botanist of wide interests 

 and his investigations and writings touch nearly every branch of this 

 broad field. A true philosopher, he gave to his contributions that 

 philosophical character and flavor which is the mark of scientific genius. 

 He was the author of many textbooks, notable among which are 

 several elementary and college textbooks of general botany, " The biology 

 of ferns," and "Mushrooms, edible, poisonous, etc." He made many 



