OF AETS AND SCIENCES. 273 



admirable drawings. These plates were engi'aved at his own expense, 

 and were generously given to the Academy. 



When the second edition of Gray's " Manual of the Botany of the 

 Northern United States " was in preparation, Mr. Sullivant was asked to 

 contribute to it a compendious account of the Musci and Hepaticae of 

 the region ; which he did, in the space of about a hundred pages, gen- 

 erously adding, at his sole charge, eight copper-plates, crowded with 

 illustrations of the details of the genera, — thus enhancing vastly the 

 value of his friend's work, and laying a foundation for the general study 

 of bryology in the United States, which then and thus began. 



So excellent are these illustrations, both in plan and execution, that 

 Schimper, then the leading bryologist of the Old World, and a most 

 competent judge, since he has published hundreds of figures in his 

 Bryolocjia EuropcBa, not only adopted the same plan in his " Synopsis of 

 the European Mosses," but also the veiy figures themselves (a few of 

 which were, however, originally his own), whenever they would serve 

 his purpose, as was the case with most of them. A separate edition 

 was published of this portion of the Manual, under the title of " The 

 Musci and Hepaticas of the United States, east of the Mississippi 

 River" (New York, 1856, imperial 8vo), upon thick j^aper, and with 

 proof-impressions directly from the copper-plates. This exquisite vol- 

 ume was placed on sale at far less than its cost, and copies are now of 

 great rarity and value. It was with regret that the author of the 

 Manual omitted this cryptogamic portion from the ensuing editions, 

 and only with the understanding that a separate S^iecies Muscorum or 

 Manual for the Mosses of the whole United States should replace it. 

 This most needful work Mr. Sullivant was just about to prepare for 

 the press. 



About the same time that Mr. Sullivant thus srave to American stu- 

 dents a text-book for our Mosses, he provided an unequalled series of 

 named specimens for illustrating them. The ample stores which he had 

 collected or acquired, supplemented by those collected by M. Lesque- 

 reux (who was associated with him from the year 1848) in a journey 

 through the mountainous parts of the Southern States under his 

 auspices, after critical determination were divided into fifty sets, each 

 of about 360 species or varieties, with printed tickets, title, index, &c., 

 and all except a few copies for gratuitous distribution were generously 

 made over, to be sold at less than cost, for his esteemed associate's 

 benefit, and still more that of the botanists and institutions who could 

 thus acquire them. The title of this classical work and collection is 

 Musci Boreali-Americani quorum specimina exsiccata ' liderunt W. S. 

 VOL. 1. 35 



