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of blossoms and found all to be alike. In all I must have ex- 

 amined at least some two hundred as I wandered flcnvn the 

 stream. This being at the end of the season for Erylhronium 

 to be in bloom, I had no chance to make a comparison with 

 plants of other localities. The results were at least interesting 

 and I resolved to explore further the following season. 



This spring, being at the New York Botanical Garden at the 

 time these flowers should open, I had a chance to examine plants 

 in a different locality from that of the preceding season. In 

 my searches about the wood at Bronx Park I was rewarded by 

 finding a number of blossoms and these were all identical in 

 structure with the Connecticut specimens of the season before, 

 namely, with stamens of two lengths. 



Having access to a number of popular botanical books and 

 with a curiosity to see how many would have this plant illus- 

 trated as I had found it, I proceeded to investigate. The first 

 book I picked up was Lounsberry's "Guide to the Wild Flowers" 

 and in the colored plate illustrating our adder's tongue, I found 

 the stamens shown to be all of the same length. The excellent 

 colored plates of Meehan's "Native Flowers and Ferns of the 

 United States" were next examined and here, likewise, they 

 could not be made out other than equal. The result w-as the 

 same in the "Field Book of American Wild Flowers," by F. 

 Schuyler Mathews. The curious fact should be noted here that 

 while Mathews has drawn Erythronium americanum incorrectly 

 as regards the stamens, on the same plate he has illustrated 

 E. albidum correctly with two lengths of stamens. The only 

 illustration found which showed the stamens of E. americanum 

 to be unequal in length and similar to those I had collected was the 

 plate in Blanchan's "Nature's Garden" which is reproduced 

 from a photograph. 



Herbarium material was next examined and this included 

 specimens from Massachusetts south to South Carolina and 

 west to Michigan in considerable quantity. In only one case 

 did there appear any possibility of the stamens being of equal 

 length. This was a specimen collected at New Brunswick, New 

 Jersey in 1888, now in the herbarium of the New York 

 Botanical Garden. 



