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

 have worked in Louisiana from tiVne to time in the past. It is 

 not intended to give an exhaustive list of every worker, but to 

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

 RiJdell, Hale and Carpenter, Avho worked in collusion from 

 about 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, names only, in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical 

 Journa], 1859. This did not include grasses and sedges, though 

 reference is made to a separate monograpli on these two families, 

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

 have disappeared. Their list contains about 1,800 names, but 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 "Eiddell 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 Featherman, professor of Botany in the State 

 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, but not 

 pilblished. His collection is also totally ruined. He does not 

 seem to have known of the collection of Riddell, Hale and Car- 

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

 cept grasses and sedges. He makes no reference to tlieir work, 

 and evidently imao'ined his catalogue was the first ever prepared. 



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

 and also had prepared a manuscript of the Flora of East Texas 

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

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

 many, were bought by Dr. Trelease of St. Louis, by whom a list 

 was kiiKlly sert to the writer some years as'o. 



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

 Phaneroo-ams and Cryptogams collected fm* eiei'ht years, mainly 



