•)i) 



Besides the above-mentioned exchange resources employed 

 by Mr. Canby in enlar<^n'ng his licrbarium, he was a Hbcral pur- 

 chaser of collectors' sets, especially of American plants. In 1892 

 his herbarium comprised 30,000 species and not less than five 

 times that number of specimens. An outline of its composition 

 has been published by the writer (Bull. Torrcy Club, 19 : 336). 

 Its cases had increased in number until they entirely outgrew the 

 accommodations of Mr. Canby's home. Room after room, and 

 finally the halls, had been invaded ; alterations had even been 

 made for it, and again its quarters had become crowded, until at 

 length Mr. Canby decided to dispose of it, and it was purchased 

 by the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York in the year 

 named. Here it has been carefully preserved but, unfortunately, 

 the conditions have not been favorable for its continued growth. 

 With his own herbarium off his hands, Mr. Canby at once 

 applied himself to developing that of the Society of Natural His- 

 tory of Delaware, which before the time of his death, had come 

 to number more than 13,000 species. 



All Mr. Canby's herbarium work was performed with the most 

 scrupulous care, as to both mechanical and scientific details. 

 All specimens were mounted with his own hands, on the best of 

 paper and with such a display as to admit most perfectly of their 

 study in this position. At frequent intervals thereafter they were 

 brushed over, to remove dirt and exclude vermin. All inscriptions 

 were made in a clear and beautiful hand, and are remarkably full, 

 both as to records and opinions. The genus-covers are equally 

 well inscribed, bearing the number of the family, according to 

 the Benthamian arrangement, the number, name and author of 

 the genus, and the page reference to Bentham and Hooker's 

 Genera Plaiitanoti. 



Like most of the botanists of his day, Mr. Canby studied botany 

 because he loved plants. To him plants were living individuals, 

 and herbarium specimens derived their interest from the fact that 

 they were the best obtainable representatives thereof. While the 

 botanical studies of that time lacked the scientific value, and ulti- 

 mately, the economic value of those of the present, they embodied 

 a grace and conferred a delight as unknown to a host of unfor- 

 tunate laboratory slaves of the present generation as is the scent 



