*5* 



BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



pretensions to such knowledge or ability as he possessed and the 

 land was his "to enter in and possess. 1 ' When he returned in 1815 the 

 land was already partly possessed for Pursh, Nuttall, Elliott, Big- 

 elow, etc., were at work. When we come to analyze the character 

 of this eccentric man it seems as though the secret of all his ec- 

 centricity and cause of his failure to reach the rank for which 

 nature had fitted him, was an unbounded egotism. Then, as now, 

 there occasionally appeared one who preferred self to truth, even in 

 communion with nature, who is the veiy embodiment of truth and 

 is supposed to cultivate a love for it in her votaries. But the fact 

 is scientific men are dreadful egotists and their own opinion is often 

 worth a good deal more to them than the truth, and our estimate 

 of Rafinesque is that he was simply an extreme and outspoken 

 representative of a large class of scientific men to-day. And so he 

 was ever working, but rarely accomplishing anything; always eager 

 to publish, but his writings the rarest of all; anxious for his name 

 to be remembered, but so using his talents as almost to bury him- 

 self and his works in a too harsh condemnation. 



"Effort for self ends aimlesslj'; 

 Effort for truth grows endlessly." 



The Hibernac ulum of Asanim Canadense, L. 



It is quite common for trees and mi 

 shrubs to form buds during the fall, con- f] 

 taining the leaves and flowers for the ! ri 

 following year in a more or less de- 

 veloped condition. On the other hand 

 it is very rare among herbaceous per- 

 ennials to find any trace of the flowers 

 until spring. An exception to these is 

 our common Wild Grin- 



£_ 



ger. On the 25th of No- 

 vember, I noticed in the 

 garden of Mr. W. Werth- 

 ner,that the creeping root- 

 stocks had formed very 



flat buds 



which laid 



h oriz on tally 



on the ground 



or were slight- 

 ly covered by /^^^s: 



soil (Fi>l t %Mf*5$y& 



ok). He * ,•<> 



kindly permitted me to **» ^ S % 



take the specimens. On the side of the bud towards the end of 

 the shoot will be found a small ovate-oblong scale (Fig. 2). Follow- 



