1 68 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



association, which continued for over forty years, and which has 

 done so much for the advancement of American botany. 



The question why was not Torrey and Gray's Flora completed, 

 has often been asked by those not familiar with the rapid progress 

 of botanical discovery. The reason was this: By the time the 

 first volume of the Flora was finished, new materials belonging to 

 the orders contained in that volume demanded a large appendix, 

 and a few years later new discoveries were so numerous that it was 

 impossible for the work to keep pace with them. Its authors pur- 

 sued the best course; instead of giving their time to the comple- 

 tion of the Flora and allowing the new materials to pass — as 

 they inevitably would have done — into the hands of European 

 botanists, they turned their attention to studying and recording 

 them. Now these discoveries of American plants are mainly re- 

 corded by American botanists in American publications, and to se- 

 cure this result it was well that the Flora was suspended. In this 

 matter — of securing the new plants — both Doctors Torrey and 

 Gray worked, sometimes together, oftener independently, but al- 

 ways with the fullest co-operation. The result has been a series 

 of memoirs unequalled in scientific value by any that have been 

 produced in recent botanical litarature. In chronological order we 

 find that Dr. Torrey published in: 



1843, Botany of Nicollet's Report; 



1845, Botany of Fremont's 1st and 2d Expeditions; 



1848, Botany of Emory's Military Reconnaissance; 



1850, A Memoir on Batis. A Memoir on Darlingtonia and 

 Plantae Fremontianse were accepted for the Smithso- 

 nian Contributions and published a year or two later. 



1852, Botany of Stansbury's Report of his explorations in the 



region of Great Salt Lake; 



1853, The Plants of Marcy's Red River Expedition; 



1854, Botany of Sitgreave's Zuni and Colorado Journey. 



The reports of the collections of the various Pacific Railroad 

 surveys were published at intervals from 1855 to 1860, and then 

 not in the order in which they were written. 



Enumerating them as they occur in the volumes, we find in 

 Vol. II: The Botany of Pope's, Beckwith's and Gunnison's expedi- 

 tion's, three comparatively brief memoirs in which Dr. Gray's name 

 is mentioned as joint author. 



Vol. IV: " Botany of Whipple's Expedition," the most import- 

 ant of ail these Railroad surveys in botanical results. 

 Vol. V: " Botany of Lieut. Williamson's Report.'* 

 Vol. VIII: "Botany of Lieut. Parke's Expedition." 

 In other volumes of the railroad surveys are botanical reports 

 by Newbury, Durand and others, to each of which Dr. Torrey 

 contributed important materials, in many cases working up whole 

 -orders. 



