REPORT OF THE HONORARY CURATOR OF THE 

 ECONOMIC COLLECTIONS 



Dr. N. L. Britton, Director-in-Chief. 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report for 

 the year 1909. 



The number of specimens added to our economic collec- 

 tion during the year is 212. These specimens consist 

 chiefly of drugs and edible products contributed by myself. 

 About half of them have been obtained from commercial 

 sources. Of the others, a small collection was made in the 

 vicinity of Charleston, S. C, in March, another in the 

 vicinity of Mt. Airy, N. C, in June, and a large collection, 

 specifically reported upon in the October number of our 

 Journal, in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Cali- 

 fornia, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, in July, August 

 and September. I would direct your special attention to 

 the authenticated character of these specimens, inasmuch as 

 they are, in nearly all cases, accompanied by herbarium 

 specimens, the labels of each bearing a cross-reference to 

 the other. These two specimens have, whenever possible, 

 been taken from the same plant. It thus becomes possible 

 for students and investigators, in referring to the museum 

 specimens, to verify their identity by the herbarium speci- 

 mens, even though a species should later have been divided 

 or merged, or its name brought into doubt in other ways. 

 The importance of this method of building up our museum 

 can not be overestimated. It frequently happens that 

 important commercial or legal questions depend for their 

 settlement upon the authenticity of a museum specimen 

 which, when the latter is referred to, cannot be established. 

 Aside from this fact, the scientific study of a herbarium 

 specimen is often greatly aided by the examination of other 

 parts existing in a museum specimen. Many of the speci- 

 mens here reported upon represent fleshy fruits, preserved 



