SKETCH OF GOTTHILF H. E. MUHLENBERG. 697 



The valuable herbarium, for which Muhlenberg collected and 

 sorted for a full third of a century, was bought by a number of 

 his friends for a little more than five hundred dollars, and was 

 presented to the American Philosophical Society in February, 

 1818. It was then in good condition, but has, unfortunately, not 

 been well taken care of, and has become so decayed as to have 

 little if any more than historical value. 



In considering the question of the value to science of these 

 labors of a whole lifetime, we should think first of the greater 

 clearness which resulted from them to the descriptive botany of 

 North America. Although Muhlenberg printed but little, and 

 although he often lost the claim to priority through being antici- 

 pated in publication by less reserved botanists, yet we find in 

 Gray's Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States about 

 one hundred species and varieties which were first established as 

 such by him, and besides them a nearly equal number which were 

 either assigned afterward to other genera, or with which, on the 

 principle of priority in publication, the names given by other 

 botanists were retained. This is really an admirable result, con- 

 sidering the zeal of collectors and hunters before and during 

 Muhlenberg's time, and the limited extent of the field which he 

 was able personally to examine. His services have also been well 

 recognized by botanists. A goldenrod was given by Torrey 

 and Gray the name Solidago Mulileribergii ; Grisebach named a 

 centaury Erythrcza Muhlenbergii ; a small willow was called by 

 Barratt Salix Muhlenbergii; and Gray gave the name Muhlen- 

 bergii to a species of reed or sedge. Two mosses of the genera 

 Phascum and Funaria were named after Muhlenberg by Schwartz ; 

 two lichens of the genera Umbilicaria and Gyropliora by Acha- 

 rius ; and a fungus of the genus Dothidea by Elliott. 



About half of the plant names given by Muhlenberg which 

 are now recognized belong to the reeds and the grasses, Cyperacece, 

 and Graminece,, in the study of which he was supported by Schre- 

 ber. One of the first new genera of grasses observed by him, to 

 which belong seven species in the Northern floral region of the 

 United States, and a still larger number of other species in the 

 other States and Territories, was given the name Muhlenbergia 

 by Schreber. At least five species of this genus, which have not 

 become domiciled east of the Mississippi, are known in Colorado. 



This review of Muhlenberg's botanical work would not be com- 

 plete without special mention of his scientific correspondence, his 

 personal intercourse with naturalists, and the honors he received. 

 Among his foreign correspondents were Dillenius, Hedwig, Hoff- 

 mann, Persoon, Pursh, Smith, Schopf, Schreber, Sturm, Willde- 

 now, William Aiton, of Kew; Batsch, the mycologist; Palisot de 

 Beauvoir in Paris, and Dr. Thibaud in Montpellier ; Christian 



