should be said by way of apology to the various botanists who 

 have worked in Louisiana from time t<> time in the past. It is 

 not intended to give an exhaustive Lis1 of every worker, bul to 

 refer only to the work of the most prominent. These are: 

 RiJdell, Hale and Carpenter, who worked in collusion from 

 aboul 1839 to 1859; Prof. Featherman, 1869 to 1875; Dr. Joor, 

 up to the year 1892; and the Rev. A. B. Langlois, from about 

 1880 to 1898. 



Riddell, Hale and Carpenter published the result of their 

 observations in the form of a Catalogue of the Flora of Louis- 

 iana, pames only, in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical 

 Journal, 1859. This did not include grasses and sedges, though 

 n ference is made to a separate monograph on these two families. 

 sent by Hale to the Smithsonian Institution, which paper seems to 

 have disappeared. Their list contains about 1 800 names, bul as, 

 unfortunately, but fragments of the collection remain, it is im- 

 possible to verify many of the names, while even of the specimens 

 which still exist, some have no labels other than "Louisiana:" 

 others bear merely a number with reference to "Riddel! Flora of 

 Southwest Louisiana." It is probable, however, that in 1859 the 

 flora of Louisiana was better known than it ever has been since 

 that date. 



Professor Peatherman, professor of Botany in the Stale 

 University at Baton Rouge, collected, mainly in the vicinity of 

 Baton Rouge, and also prepared a manuscript of the Flora of 

 Louisiana, which was sent to the Smithsonian Institution, bul not 

 published. TTis collection is also total]}- ruined. He does nol 

 seem to have known of the collection of Riddell, Hale and <'ar- 

 penter, and his list contains no name not included in theirs, ex- 

 ( ept grasses and sedges.^ He makes no reference to their work. 

 and evidently imagined his catalogue was the firsl ever prepared. 



Dr. Joor collected for many years in Texas ami Louisiana, 

 and also bad prepared a manuscript of the Flora of Eas1 Texas 

 and Louisiana. This manuscript was losl and no one knows what 

 became of it. The plants he collected in Louisiana not very 

 many, were boughl by \)v. Trelease of St. Louis by whom ,-i list 

 was kirdly ?< r1 to the writer some years a?o. 



Lev. A. B. Langlois published a catalogue in 1887 of the 

 Phanerogams and Cryptogams collected for eidii years, mainly 



