12 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



about Litchfield the results of which he published in 1822 in Silli- 

 man's Journal as " A List of Plants growing spontaneously in 

 Litchfield and Vicinity. " This earliest extant catalogue of the 

 plants of any portion of Connecticut enumerates 453 species, most 

 or all of which are now known from the same region. Air. 

 Brace's specimens are said to be preserved at Williams College, 

 but they have not been seen by any member of this Committee. 



We are told that Amos Eaton " prosecuted the study of botany, 

 chemistry and mineralogy to some extent in New Haven in 181 7. " 

 Although we know nothing of the extent of his -work on our 

 flora, the record is interesting from the fact that he was the 

 grandfather of Prof. D. C. Eaton and one of the first in America 

 to arouse a general interest in botany. 



The earliest collectors whose specimens have been preserved 

 in any quantity belong to a period some years later. Dr. H. C. 

 Beardslee, Dr. J. W. Robbins and Charles Weight collected many 

 rare species during the dozen years following 1822, mostly from 

 1828 to 1832, some of which have only recently been rediscovered. 

 These gentlemen, although natives of this state, made most of 

 their later collections outside of Connecticut, and some specimens 

 lay for a long time undistributed ; so that a few species known to 

 these collectors are here first included in a formal flora of the 

 state. 



The next collector whose work is of importance is Prof. 

 Daniel C. Eaton of Yale, who will need no eulogy either as a 

 man or as a scientist to those who were fortunate enough to know 

 him. Although primarily a student of the ferns and other 

 cryptogams, his knowledge of the higher plants was extensive and 

 accurate. He collected much in the region about New Haven 

 and always welcomed reports or specimens of species new to or 

 rare in Connecticut. His collecting, as shown by the dates in 

 his herbarium, began about 1856, and his specimens have been 

 of the greatest assistance both in botanical exploration and in 

 the preparation of this work. 



After 1 83 1 work on the flora of Connecticut seems to have 

 lapsed entirely until it was taken up about 1877 by a small group 

 of students in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College. 

 The results of their work were published as " A Catalogue of 

 the Flowering Plants and Higher Cryptogams growing without 



