12 botanical gazette. [January 



extended some distance inward. The plants were smaller 

 and slenderer than the ones I had seen at Carthage, and it 

 was a moment before I became certain of their identity. 

 They represented all stages of advancement, from the buds 

 to the ripening head, and I observed the light akenes, with 

 their feathery pappus, detaching themselves from the plants 

 and being borne away by the wind. I distinctly remember 

 saying to Mr. Walrath, who, as I had told him what I hoped 

 to find and he had seen me get the Carthage specimens, 

 manifested a genuine interest in the matter, that if the farm- 

 ers of that section did not take measures to prevent it, that 

 plant might become a great pest, a remark which, I doubt 

 not, if he were living, he would also recall. The particular 

 spot where I found the plant on that day was some three 

 miles northeast of the village of Evans' Mills, on the farm of 

 Mr. John Evans, a descendant of the early family who gave 

 their name to that place. 



I took a goodly number of specimens and brought them 

 back with me to Washington, where, at the herbarium of the 

 Department of Agriculture, I carefully compared them with 

 all the species of Hieracium there represented, and con- 

 cluded that they agreed better with H. fallax Willd. and H. 

 -prcealtum Vill. than with anything else I could find. I sent 

 specimens both of the Carthage and the Evans' Mills collec- 

 tions to Dr. Gray, stating some of the circumstances, and 

 writing on the labels the names of the two species that I 

 thought lay nearest to my plant. I am unable to recall the 

 exact nature of his reply, but I am certain that it was not 

 final^ and that he desired time to investigate the subject. 

 Getting no further word from him, I distributed most ot the 

 specimens under the name "11. fallax Willd." l When Part 

 I of Vol. II of Gray's Synoptical Flora appeared, my atten- 

 tion was called to the credit given me on page 424 for the 

 discovery of the plant in this country. It is, as he cautiously 

 remarks, "a form" of H. praealtum, and I shall presently 



note the principal points of divergence from the type of that 

 species. 



As is the habit of romance writers, I must now ask the 

 reader to figure to himself the lapse of a considerable length 

 of time, viz., eight years. After the smoke of the great bat- 



*I wish to say here that, through some curious inadvertence, I now possess neither of 

 the specimens collected at Carthage, and to ask any of my old correspondents to whom I 

 sent the plant (the Harvard Herbarium excepted), who may oh ice to read these lines to 

 take the trouble to 1 k and see if his specimen tfl labeled from that place, and let me 

 know if it is, as I would be glad to know where these specimens are. 



