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30 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



Much field work has been planned and carried out in connec- 

 ticKn with the preparation of this report, which has resulted in, 

 the addition of many thousands of specimens to the herbaria of 

 the Philadelphia Aicademy and the writer, and added greatly 

 to his understanding of the several botanical regions here con- 

 sidered and their relationships. 



At the time of Dr. Brinton's weekly field trips, certain historicp 

 localities were visited year after year, with the object of obtain- 

 ing special desirable species known tO' occur there. The distribu 

 tion of the various plants appealed more especially to the writer,-*^ 

 and he realized the necessity of broader field work in order to ' 

 secure data for this line of study. He therefore made efforts toP 

 visit as m;any new localities each year as possible, selecting spots* 

 that from their location on the map looked promising. This 

 work was ably seconded later by Messrs. S. S. Van Pelt and 

 Bayard Long. Some of these excursions proved barren of 

 results, but the majority added many additional stations for 

 plants hitherto known from only a few localities. The collecting'^ 

 of common species was prosecuted quite as diligently as the f 

 search for rarities, since the herbaria were lamentably weak in 

 their representation of well-known plants. The collectingi of^^ 

 series of specimens of the same species was not considered de- 

 sirable in the old days, and the writer well remembers his good 

 friend and preceptor, Mr. John H. Redfield,* conservator of the 

 Academy's botanical collections, carefully examining the herba- 

 rium to see if there might be roomi on a sheet to mount an 

 additional duplicate that had been recently obtained. If there 

 were not, the specimen was generally rejected rather than use up 

 a new sheet of mounting paper. One cannot but wonder what 

 the older botanists would have thought of the vast herbaria of 

 to-day, in which "genus covers" have been supplanted by "species 

 covers," so rapidly has material accumulated. 



The accompanying map will show approximately the country 

 covered by the field work of Messrs. Van Pelt, Long and thei 



* 1815-1895. To Mr. Redfield's generous care the preservation of the many 

 valuable herbaria at the Academy is largely due. He devoted many years of 

 his life gratuitously to their care and arrangement at a time vv^hen such 

 attention was imperative. Cf. Torrey Bull. XX. 162 for sketch of his life. 



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