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lected by members in their rambles in the vicinity of the city, 

 and made some remarks on their appearance as the harbingers 

 of the already approaching vernal season. Of these, were 

 tufts of Bluets, which by and by were to Avhiten with their 

 presence, in innumerable multitudes, the rocky pasture-lands 

 of the immediate vicinity. On a sunny declivity and sheltered 

 by some rocks, these exquisite little blossoms are yearly found, 

 by persons acquainted with the spot, some weeks earlier than 

 elsewhere ; and thus, one of the most premature of our blos- 

 soms in spring, it also may be found lingering among the last 

 flowers of autumn, as if to unite by an encircling bond of 

 loveliness the periodical garland of Flora. Thus the pretty 

 little bluets seem to hold a similar place in our spring months 

 to that of the gentians in our autumns, and, as the wet pastures 

 and tuft bogs are gladdened by the deep blue-purple flowers of 

 the gentians, so the dry warm hill sides are whitened by the 

 pale blossoms of the bluets. Examined minutely, they lose 

 none of their interest as delicate prettinesses ; and some people 

 attach to them the name of Innocence. 



In the first volume of the first series of the memoirs of the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, may be 

 found what perhaps is the earliest paper of a strictly scientific 

 character on our New England plants. 



Rev. Dr. Cutler, the writer of the paper, in briefly de- 

 scribing the Bluets, calls them Venus Pride, and arranges them 

 under the Linnsean name of Hedyotis. Torrey & Gray after 

 Hooker, calls them Hedyotis cserulea. In Bigelow's Plants of 

 Boston and Vicinity, a most popular manual, especially with 

 our earlier days, they are called Houstonia c^rulea. See 2d 

 and 3(i Editions. In Gray's Manual of Botany we find them 

 called Oldenlandia caerulea, a name applied in 1703 by Plu- 

 MIER in honor of Oldenland, a German botanist. I make 

 these remarks in passing, as illustrative of the acuteness of 

 Cutler, considering the scanty materials at his disposal for 

 consultation and comparison. Without considering which is 

 the most correct, we shall probably continue to call our bluets 

 Houstonia, as most familiar to our ears, though for the sake of 



