rT. 24.] TO HIS FATHER. 58 
their extremity. It occurs in a great part of herba- 
ceous perennials, and can always in practice be distin- 
guished from the root, although it is still described 
as root in all the books; witness, Hydrophyllum, 
Acta, Caulophyllum, Trillium, Convallaria, and so on 
to infinity. 
I am not yet perfectly satisfied about our Actas ; 
thus the red-berried one is now perfectly ripe, while 
the berries of the white one are but half-grown; all 
the red ones, so far as I have seen, have slender pedi- 
cels also, yet the leaves and the rhizomata are exactly 
alike. By the way, while I was botanizing this after- 
noon, I met with great quantities of Orchis specta- 
bilis, by far the largest and finest I ever saw; their 
leaves emulating Habenaria orbiculata. If you care 
for them in the slightest degree, I will secure a suffi- 
cient quantity to fill your garden. O. spectabilis will, 
while in flower, be a very pretty spectacle... . 
I remain cordially and truly yours, 
A. GRay. 
TO HIS FATHER. 
New York, September 28, 1855. 
I suppose I have been a little negligent in waiting 
so long before I wrote home, but in truth I did not 
wish to write until I had something certain to say, 
and even now I have very little. met Dr. Hadley 
in Utica just at dusk on the evening of the day 
you left me there, so I stayed all night there, and 
went to Fairfield next day. I stayed at Fairtield 
until Tuesday afternoon, then went to Little Falls, 
and arrived in Albany just in time for the evening 
boat next day, and was in New York at breakfast 
next morning. 
