iXXvi FROCEEDINGS OP THK 



Virginia. Of this work only one volume appeared. Afterwards, in elabo- 

 rating Dr. James's collections made in Long's expedition, Dr. Torrey 

 opened up the botany of the Colorado Rocky Mountains ; and in 1827 

 the results were giren in the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History, 

 under the title " Account of a Collection of Plants from the Eoeky 

 Mountains and adjacent countries." In 1831 he published a Catalogue 

 of North-American genera of plants, arranged according to the orders 

 of Lindley's introduction to the natural system of botany, and in 

 1836 a monograph of North- American Gyperacece, to which is ap- 

 pended a monograph of the North-American species of Rhynclio- 

 spora by Dr. Asa Gray. In conjunction with Dr. Asa Gray, Dr. 

 Torrey prepared a Flora of North America, containing descriptions 

 of all the known indigenous and naturalized plants growing north of 

 Mexico, the first volume of which, comprising the polypetalous division 

 of the Dicotyledons, was published in 1838. Three parts of a second 

 volume, ending with the Compositse, appeared between 1841 and 

 1843. The first volume of a work entitled ' A Flora of the State of 

 New York,' comprising lianunculaceiV and Ericacece, was published 

 in 1843. Besides the above works other detached papers were pub- 

 lished by Dr. Torrey. Amongst others thei'e is in Silliman's Journal 

 a notice of the plants collected by Douglass in 1826 round the great 

 lakes and the upper waters of the Mississippi ; and the Proceedings 

 of the American Association contain papers on the plants discovered 

 by Col. Fremont in California, and on the structure and affinities of 

 the genus Batis. In the Smithsonian Contributions (xi. 1854) 

 Dr. Torrey published observations on Batis maritima, Linn., and ou 

 Dnrlingtonia califcn-nica, a very curious new species of Pitcher-plant 

 from Northern California (1850, 1854). " Plantae Fremontianae," 

 or descriptions of plants collected by Col. Fremont in California, also 

 appeared in the Smithsonian Contributions. It must not be for- 

 gotten, in estimating Dr. Torrey 's labours, that although his distin- 

 guished position in science was derived from botany, his livelihood 

 came from chemistry, which he pursued, if not with equal devotion, 

 yet with genuine love. In the year 1824, soon after his marriage, 

 he accepted the Chair of Chemistry, Mineralogy, &c, at West Point ; 

 in 1827 he was removed to that of Chemistry and Botany in the 

 College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, to which, a few 

 years later, were added the duties of a similar chair at Princetown 

 College. About twenty years ago he relinquished the latter, upon 

 an urgent request from the then Secretary of the Treasury to take 

 charge of the Assay Department in the Government Assay Office. 



