6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



In all the areas studied extensive collections were made for the 

 purpose of record in the state herbarium. Considerable time has 

 been spent in the study of various groups of small fungi, both para- 

 sitic and saprophytic. The large number of plants submitted to this 

 office for information regarding the control of such diseases makes 

 it imperative that as much time as is available be spent upon such 

 investigations. 



While routine matters occupy much time, opportunity was found 

 to prepare a numbered check list of the ferns and flowering plants 

 of the State, which may serve as a basis for a more complete flora 

 of the State to be published at some future time. 



Investigations upon the flora of New York State during the past 

 few years have involved not only the necessary field work, and 

 study of herbarium material, but have also necessitated a careful 

 review of all the literature dealing with the botany of the State 

 either wholly or in part. 



Largely as a matter of curiosity, and partly because it has been 

 suggested in certain quarters that the field of natural history research 

 in this State was an " unoccupied field," the Botanist has brought 

 together a brief summary of the work in botany which has been 

 done in this State since the earliest available record. The total 

 number of pages of printed matter on the plant life of the State 

 is doubtless a poor indication of the relative value of such pages, 

 but for lack of a more precise method of comparison it may serve 

 as a sort of indicator as to the relative amount of such work per- 

 formed by the State Museum. 



The total number of pages of printed matter on the flora of New York 

 State, since the beginning of the nineteenth century, to January 1920 (exclud- 

 ing experiment station bulletins and forestry reports, where such are not 

 exclusively botanical), is 10845 



(Approximately 200 authors) 



The total number of pages of printed matter on the flora of New York 

 State, printed under the auspices of the Regents, and later as publications of 

 the New York State Museum, to January 1920, is 5265 



These are distributed as follows : 



a Annual Reports, State Botanist, 1867 (1871) to 191 7 (1920), exclusive 

 of pages of wholly extralimital matter, but including contributions on 

 botany of the State by others than the State Botanist, pages, 3851 



b Other bulletins on the botany of the State by the State Botanist, pages, 



c Botanical papers in the Regents Reports, prior to 1870, by others than 

 the official State Botanist, including Torrey's Flora of the State (part 

 2, of the Natural History Survey of New York, 1843), and Peck's 

 Memoir 4, on Fungi, pages, 1676 



d Botanical articles by Peck on the state flora published in reports other 

 than those of this Department, pages, 133 



e Wild Flowers of New York, pages, 323 



It will be seen from this inadequate summary that the Regents 

 and the State Education Department have had the supervision of the 



