THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



These remarkable water-colored drawings made and annotated by 

 Leconte himself were undoubtedly intended by him to accompany his mono- 

 graphs in the Annals of the I.yeeiim of New York referred to. Dr. Greene once 

 told us himself that they were very likely left out because of the great expense 

 of reproduction. There are altogether 25 life size plates of Violets, 10 of 

 Bladderworts, and 7 of Gratiolae. Some of the last are unfinished as to 

 coloring, and though we had on various occasions seen this work during Dr. 

 Greene's lifetime, we were ourselves hitherto unaware of this last group of 

 illustrations. There are also penciled notes on the margins of the plates by 

 Dr. Greene himself as to the identity of the plants shown. 



Mr. Martindale the former owner of the treasure made the following 

 note on the inside of the front cover of the book: " Purchased at the sale of 

 the Library of Dr. J. LeConte, Phila., 5—1884. They were the original dra- 

 ings of Major LeConte. Isaac C. Martindale." 



It was for some time subsequent to the death of Dr. Greene, Nov. 10, 

 1 915, that these plates hail been lost or had disappeared. Diligent search was 

 made for the collection without avail. Shile catalogueing the periodicals of 

 the Green Library we came upon them quite accidentally hidden in an 

 out-of-the-way place and behind some hooks on the shelves. Dr. Greene 

 had put them there before leaving on his last trip to Washington; for they 

 were not in the library a week previous to his departure. 



After carefully weighing matters from all pqints of view it has been 

 decided to allow reproductions to be made of the unpublished plates of 

 LeConte. The articles in the Annals of the N. Y. Lyceumwill be reprinted 

 and accompanied by actual size photographic copies of the plates 43 in all 

 and one photographic copy of Mr. C. Matindale's note in the original cover. 

 Accompanying the facsimile photographic prints we will aim to give a short 

 resume of references to them in Dr. Greene's writings. Owing to the limited 

 number of copies that will appear it will be necessary to request the various 

 institutions, academies and individuals to send in requests beforehand for 

 copies by subscription. If a sufficient number are ordered or asked to be 

 reserved the work will be undertaken. The photographs will be made by 

 the most expert artist that can be had for the work from the most sensitise 

 orthochromatic plates. The prints themselves will be made on highly polished 

 linen-backed paper 7 X 10 inches. Another expert artist has consented to 

 color the prints to the original at an extra cost of 30 c. apiece, for those who 

 wish color reproductions. The photographs will be the best that the modern 

 art can obtain, and a sample will be sent to those who wish to examine the 

 nature of the technique, on condition of its immediate return as the cost of 

 making prints is necessarily very expensive. The price is $25. No copies 

 will be given or made out afterwards. Nor will the work be undertaken 



unless a sufficient number of subscribers apply. Address: 



Director or the Herbarium, 



Notre Dame, Indiana. 



No. 2, Vol. V, published March [5, 1917. 



