62 The Botanical Gazette. [February, 
During the first few years of his life in Rockford, Mr. Bebb 
was as active as ever in his botanical pursuits, and in 1880 
he attended the meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science at Portland, Maine. He had been 
present at the meeting of this society in 1872, at Dubuque, 
Iowa. In the winter of 1880 and 1881 he issued his first 
fascicle of Salices. These consisted mainly of specimens from 
plants either growing naturally at Fountaindale or set out in 
his willow plantation. Any herbarium is rich that possesses 
this collection. His skill as a draughtsman is shown in the 
beautiful drawings that accompany the plants. Mr. Bebb 
fully intended and hoped to issue a second fascicle, and he 
often referred to it in his letters, but various circumstances, 
combined with ill health, unfortunately prevented. In the 
autumn of 1885 he was seized with a severe attack of pleurisy 
and he never after regained perfect health. His interest in 
botanical subjects was still unabated, and he was enabled to 
accomplish much valuable work. He published in the Budletin 
of the Torrey Botanical Club, between 1888 and 1890, four 
series of ‘‘Notes on the White Mountain willows,” and in 
1890 he contributed the Salices to the sixth edition of Gray’s 
Manual. His correspondence from this time until his death 
is full of the charm of a graceful letter writer. He was al- 
ways interested in all the questions of the day as well as in 
all branches of science. At one time he pursued with great 
zeal the study of conchology and made quite a collection of 
shells, and he acquired a good knowledge of entomology and 
geology, fully realizing the importance of their bearing on the 
study of plants. 
Mr. Bebb was of a retiring nature, and most of his time if 
Rockford was spent in the privacy of his family. To his fa 
miliar correspondents his letters were always full of charming 
pictures of home scenes, and by many he will be affection- 
ately remembered not as the botanist merely, but as a loving 
and devoted father. During a great deal of this time he was 
well enough to enjoy heartily the various festivities that the 
years brought round, and I cannot forbear giving his account — 
of a Christmas scene in December, 1889. ‘‘From early mort 
when the youngsters came tumbling down stairs before it w4S 
yet light to explore the depths of their stockings, until late 
in the evening when the last member of the family put out 
the lights and went, rather tired withal, to bed, we had one ® 
