SKETCH OF MOSES ASHLEY CURTIS. 407 



Gray says that in this note he " corrected the account of its won- 

 derful action that had prevailed since the time of Linnseus, and 

 confirmed the statement and inferences of the first scientific de- 

 scriber, Ellis— namely, that this plant not only captures insects, 

 but consumes them, enveloping them in a mucilaginous fluid 

 which appears to act as a solvent." The journeys which he had 

 to make in pursuing his mission-work in the mountainous region 

 were turned to the advantage of his botanical studies. He kept a 

 portfolio under the cushion of his sulky, ready to receive any 

 specimen which he might find ; so that, when he reached the end 

 of his journey, he had collected a considerable number of speci- 

 mens to study during his leisure hours, or to mount permanently 

 in his herbarium. Dr. Gray acknowledged himself greatly in- 

 debted to him for local information concerning the flora of this 

 region, and said, in a paper in which he sketched the tours of the 

 botanists who had visited the mountains of North Carolina in 

 1841, that no living botanist was so well acquainted with the 

 vegetation of the Southern Alleghany Mountains, or had explored 

 that of the State so extensively, as he. A half -century after the 

 publication of the Wilmington catalogue, only about fifty species 

 had been added to Mr. Curtis's list. One of these was the true 

 maiden-hair fern (^rZian2^um capillus-Veneris),v^'h.ich. was found 

 by Mr. William M. Canby, of Wilmington, Del., in 18G7, at Hilton 

 Ferry. Specimens were immediately sent to Mr. Curtis, and he 

 improved the first opportunity to visit the locality and see the 

 plant in situ for himself. 



Dr. Curtis's labors on the fungi began at least as early as 1846, 

 when he became engaged in a correspondence with Mr. H. W. 

 Ravenel, of South Carolina, a large collector in this department. 

 About two years after this he entered into correspondence with 

 the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, of England, concerning which we learn 

 that that very distinguished authority on this subject became 

 greatly attached to him " by reason of the ardor and accuracy 

 with which he pursued the investigation of new species. . . . 

 Correspondence between these gentlemen continued for a number 

 of years, and a scientific copartnership was formed which resulted 

 in the addition of nearly five hundred new species (besides more 

 than twelve hundred identified by De Schweinitz, chiefly in North 

 Carolina) to the list up to 1867 ; and since Dr. Curtis's death a 

 number of new species appeared in ' Grevillea,' under the joint 

 authorship of Berkeley and Curtis." This new field of study was 

 greatly to Dr. Curtis's liking, and he became very skillful in the 

 microscopic work necessary to the determination of species. He 

 became too devoted to it, perhaps, for his health was undermined 

 in consequence of the close attention he gave to it. It was a 

 genuine case of pure love of the work ; for the stimuli and temp- 



