Editorial. 239 



Vascular Flora of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania," which he pre- 

 pared, and in which he enumerates one thousand one hundred and 

 ninety-four species. This list in recent years has been considerably 

 enlarged by the discovery of additional endemic species. 



A detailed account of his life and various activities has been pub- 

 lished by Dr. O. E. Jennings in Trillia, No. 5 (1919)- PP- 3-7» and 

 by Dr. N. L. Britton in the Journal of the New York Botanical Gar- 

 den, Vol. XIX, pp. 97-99. 



The writer of these lines recalls the last visit paid to him by Dr. 

 Shafer shortly after his return from his final South American journey, 

 I spoke of the giant cacti found on the eastern foothills of the Andes, 

 and expressed my wonder at their enormous size, some of them being 

 trees from forty to fifty feet in height. He instantly warmed up and 

 grew enthusiastic. " Say, did you ever dream there could be such 

 cacti? I was amazed at their size. The world does not realize how 

 wonderful they are. I have just come from wandering about among 

 them, whole forests of them. To my mind they are quite as wonder- 

 ful as the 'big trees' of California, and I agree with you that, before 

 they are cut down, the people of Argentina should create a reserva- 

 tion, preserving some of these giants of the vegetable world for 

 future generations to admire." 



Dr. Shafer was twice married and leaves a widow and eleven 

 children to mourn his loss. 



