68 



iana specimens, l)ut those are of little interest to the plant sociolo- 

 gist. The vegetation of the several regions of the state was 

 sketched hv Hilgard in the census report ahove mentioned and in 

 . one or two preliminary papers that preceded it. Nearly fifty 

 years ago Prof. A. Featherman of the Louisiana State University 

 published two or three official reports on botanical surveys in 

 Louisiana, and that for 1781 contains an interesting description 

 of the prairies in the southern part of the state. 



Prof. S. M. Tracy, in Bulletin 15 of the Division of Agros- 

 tology of the LI. S. Department of Agriculture, 1898 (pp. lo-ii), 

 published some notes on prairie grasses of southern Louisiana, 

 with a list of about 19 species, including several weeds. Andrew 

 Allison, in a paper on the birds of West Baton Rouge Parish, in 

 the Auk (21 : 472-483) for October, 1904, devoted about two pages 

 to vegetation, giving technical names of several of the most char- 

 acteristic plants. In the same magazine for January, 1906, the 

 same author and two others sketched the geography of the whole 

 state, with a regional map patterned after Hilgard's, and a few 

 notes on vegetation. In Torreya (6: 201-203) for October, 1906, 

 I described the vegetation of some swamps near New Orleans as 

 it appeared in midwinter. 



Prof. R. S. Cocks, in Bulletin 7 of the Gulf Biologic Station at 

 Cameron, La., published by the State Board of Agriculture and 

 Immigration in 1907, entitled The Flora of the Gulf Biologic 

 Station, devoted about two pages (out of 42) to classifying the 

 plants in the vicinity of the station by habitat, and more than six 

 pages to the flora of the prairies west of Lafayette. Two other 

 papers by the same author, namely, Grasses of Louisiana (Bull. 

 10, Gulf Biol. Sta., 1908), and Leguminosae of Louisiana (Bull. 

 I, La. Nat. Hi.st. Surv., 1910), have assisted me in identifying 

 the plants seen on the trips described below. Another interest- 

 ing contribution by Prof. Cocks, dealing with a part of southern 

 Louisiana that I have not seen, is the first of a projected series 

 of "Notes on the Flora of Louisiana," in the Plant World (17: 

 186-191) for June, 1914, which describes the fertile loess hills 

 north of Baton Rouge from a floristic standpoint. 



My first opportunity to see any part of Louisiana west of New 



I 



