THE HERBARIA OF THE SOCIETY. 101 



subjected them to frost in August, for the purpose of putting them 

 to sleep and giving a more perfect rest than by merely drying, so 

 as to force acfain in November or December. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



Saturday, March 18, 1876. 



W. C. Strong, Chairman of the Committee on Publication and 

 Discussion, presiding. The following paper was read by the Pro- 

 fessor of Botany : 



The Herbaria of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



BY JOHN ROBINSON. 



At previous meetings of this Society, the subject of forming an 

 Herbarium has been occasionally mentioned, and the hope ex- 

 pressed that at some future time such a collection would be made. 

 While looking over, this winter, the various dried plants that have 

 from time to time been presented to the Society, some members of 

 your Committee suggested the propriet)^ of having these collections 

 arranged and made available to the members for reference. It 

 was also thought desirable that a report should be prepared, stating 

 what these collections were, with suggestions as to their improve- 

 ment. I have carefully examined the several packages, with the 

 assistance of the Secretaiy, who has given me the names of the 

 donors and the dates of presentation, and iind them to be as fol- 

 lows : — 



No. 1. From Giuseppe Monarchini, M. D., U. S. Consul, 

 Island of Crete, a Corresponding Member of the Society ; May 3, 

 1851. A collection of plants from Crete, consisting of some fifty 

 species, mounted on twenty sheets of paper partly, named, but not 

 systematically arranged. 



No. 2. From " A Lady in Roxburjs" August 9, 1851, as well 

 as can be determined. This " collection of flowering plants and 

 grasses," as the report in the Transactions of the above date 

 designates them, consists of some ten sheets, arranged with a 



