6 PLANTiE WRIGHTIAN^. VI. 



the northern part of the Mexican state of Sonora, as far as to Santa Cruz, return- 

 ing to the copper mines by way of Guadalupe Pass, and thence back to El Paso. 

 This collection is one of exceeding interest ; and, I think, comprises a larger pro- 

 portion of new species than any other that has fallen into my hands. 



In the spring of 1852, while performing his official duties in the Boundary Com- 

 mission, under the orders of Major Emory, the successor of Colonel Graham, Mr. 

 Wright made an interesting vernal collection, in the vicinity of El Paso and the 

 rancho of Frontera, and down the Pio Grande for sixty or seventy miles ; also up 

 the valley as far as Camp Fillmore, and thence into the Organ Mountains Avhich 

 bound the valley on the east. A hasty excursion was also made to Lake Santa Ma- 

 ria and Lake Gusman in Chihuahua, the latter seventy or eighty miles southwest of 

 El Paso. These vernal collections afford many novelties, no botanist having previ- 

 ously explored this region at that season of the year. The remainder of the col- 

 lection for this year was gathered during a rapid journey, in June and July, from 

 New Mexico back to Eastern Texas, by the route which Mr. Wright had already 

 twice traversed. Still, it comprises a few plants not seen before, as well as speci- 

 mens in a different state or better condition. 



The numbers annexed, after the habitat, are those affixed to the distributed spe- 

 cimens ; and, to avoid confusion, they follow from the end of Mr Wright's distrib- 

 uted collection of 1849. Specimens not thus numbered are ticketed with their 

 names. 



Harvard University, Cambridge, October, 1852. 



