1889.] BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 1 5 



and had it been known then as it is now, I should have been 

 derided for getting off a wagon to dig a specimen of the 

 King-Devil. May it not be that, after a day's search, I 

 found it on that occasion at or near the very nest in which it 

 was first hatched in the United States? I revisited that spot 

 and found it still holding its own, but it had then spread in 

 all directions, and could be found in every lane and by every 

 fence in all that section of Le Ray township. 



With regard to its present distribution I could obtain 



mu 



I was told that it had 

 swept a tract of country from five to ten miles wide, but as 

 to the length of this belt no one was able to give any definite 

 idea. Carthage would be immediately in its track, but this 

 is only a distance of fifteen miles. Finally, not having in- 

 vestigated other parts of the state, I am not, of course, pre- 

 pared to say whether this is really its center of distribution, 

 •or whether it may not be equally destructive to other sections, 

 but I incline to believe that such is not the case. It is one 

 of the legitimate questions for the state botanist to investi- 

 gate, and whenever he shall do so I shall be very glad to 

 learn the result. I am certain that it does not occur among 

 the Thousand Islands or along the St. Lawrence river adja- 

 cent, having just spent ten days in studying the botany of 

 that section, with my attention specially drawn to the sub- 

 ject ; but the nature of the country here is such that it would 

 scarcely be expected to grow, even if introduced. I met a 

 young man named F. W. Barnes, who resides at Auburn, 

 and who told me that a similar plant, but with purple flowers, 



was 



At 



a specimen since my return to Washington, which proves to 



//. 



Mr 



press my thanks publicly, as I have already done privately. 

 I have since corresponded further with Mr. Barnes, and he 

 informs me that he knew of this plant only in one place near 

 Auburn, where, as the owner of the land informed him, it 

 had been known for twelve or thirteen years without tending 

 to spread, because it had been prevented from going to seed. 

 He understands that plowing it under kills it. He says that 

 he has never seen the King-Devil in that section of the state, 

 but that he once saw it at Napanee, Ontario, thirty-five miles 

 west of Kingston. If there is no mistake in this last obser- 

 vation, it is a very important fact, and will require us to look 

 still farther westward for the first starting point of our un- 



