ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 27 



In 1867, the State published as a part of the Geological and 

 Natural History Survey, '* A Catalogue of the Indigenous and 

 Naturalized Plants (of the State,") by Dr. Curtis. It was intended 

 that this work should have been printed with '' Woody Plants," 

 but the outbreak of the war prevented it. At the time of its issue, 

 in 1867, its author stated that it was the most extensive local list of 

 plants efer published in North America, comprising over 4,800 

 species. It was the first attempt to enumerate the cryptogamous as 

 well as the phenogamous plants made by any botanist in this 

 country, and its appearance was a matter of much scientific con- 

 gratulation. The volume consisted of 158 pages of catalogue, with 

 lio scientific description, but a mere statement of the locality of each 

 plant. This was the result of twenty-five years of botanical study, 

 over a territory of 50,000 square miles. Still he was quite confident 

 in the assertion that few flowering plants would be added to his list, 

 and that the additions which would reward the researches of future 

 obobservers would be entirely cryptogams. 



Tt has always been a matter of regret that this work of a lifetime 

 should have been given to the public in such a skeleton form, and 

 produced in such a primitive state of the typographer's and book- 

 maker's art. The only reward to the man of science was the con- 

 sciousness of his thorough work, and the State could well have 

 afforded to have made an ample volume in which he might have 

 recorded the rich treasures of his research for the use of the future 

 student. But it seems that Dr. Curtis was very many years in 

 advance of his time, and the expectation that his broad foundation 

 would have been built upon by his early successors has little prospect 

 of fulfilment. 



The part which Dr. Curtis took in the progress of American Bot- 

 any, was always recognized as important. His correspondence was 

 very extensive, and his herbarium was consulted by botanists with 

 great satisfaction. So largely did Dr. Chapman feel himself in- 

 debted to Dr. Curtis for aid, that he dedicated the first edition of 

 hisFlora of the Southern United States to him, and the two bota- 

 nists were in close communication until the death of Dr. Curtis in 

 1872. 



" All our associate's work was marked by ability arid conscientiousness. 

 With a just appreciation both of the needs of the science and of what he could 

 best do under the circumstances, when he had exhausted the fields in Phge- 

 nogamous Botany within his reach, he entered upon the inexhaustible ground 

 of Mycology, which had been neglected in this country since the time of 

 Schweinitz. In this difficult department he investigated and published a large 



