[Reprinted from Torreya, Vol. 7, No. 9, September, 1907.] 



THE DATES OF RAFINESQUE'S NEW FLORA AND 

 FLORA TELLURIANA 



By John Hendley Barnhart 



As far as I am aware, no question has ever been raised con- 

 cerning the rehability of the dates given on the title-pages of any 

 of the works of Rafinesque. His Autikon Botanikon, to be sure, 

 is dated 18 15-1840, while no portion of the text was published 

 until 1840; but this text was intended to illustrate an herbarium 

 which the author had accumulated during the years 181 5-1840, 

 so that the meaning of the date he gives is manifest. 



About a year ago I noticed in the Flora Telluriana (4 : 27) a 

 brief criticism of Gray's monograph of the Melanthaceae of 

 North America, which was not published until November, 

 1837 ; * and this, of course, showed that Ratinesque's criticism 

 could not have been published earlier than that date. A hurried 

 examination revealed further internal evidence of the erroneous 

 dating of the Flora Telluriana and its companion-work, the New 

 Flora of North America, but the investigation of the subject was 

 not carried very far at that time. 



When the last number of the North American Flora was in 

 press, it became necessary for Dr. Small to decide upon the 

 relative priority of Mesynuini Raf. (" 1836") and Catliartolinuni 

 Reichenb. (1837), and this led to the study of which the results 

 are here reported. 



The New Flora of North America was undertaken by Rafin- 

 esque as a supplement to the works previously published by 

 others upon the same topic ; and as a result of his labors upon 



' * Gray, A. Melanthacearum Americae Septentrionalis Revisio. Ann. Lye. Nat. 

 _ Hist. N. Y. 4 : 105-140. N 1837. 

 ? 177 



I 



