178 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 



head of a boys' liigh school at Pittsfield and was at the same time a 

 professor of chemistry in the Medical College at Pittsfield and also 

 at the Medical College at Woodstock, Vermont. He died in 1867. 



Dewey prepared a list of the plants of Berkshire County for the 

 History of the County which was pubhshed by Rev. Dr. Field in 1829. 

 This list, now nearly one hundred years old, has remained the only 

 catalogue of the flora of the County. It contains the names of about 

 800 species and varieties of native flowering plants, ferns, and fern 

 allies. The habitat of each plant is indicated in a very general way, 

 and occasionally a definite locality is given. With the assistance of 

 Mr. Frank Walters, the writer has made an analysis of this list with 

 the following results. 



There are about twenty-five names on the list of plants which are 

 undoubtedly erroneously determined, such as Clintonia umbellulata, 

 Desmodium viridiflorum, Viola striata, etc. It is sometimes possible 

 to determine with little doubt what plant Dewey had in mind, e. g., 

 -Clintonia umbellulata is without doubt C. borealis (Ait.) Raf. which is 

 not included in the list. What is intended by Desmodium viridiflorum 

 is a matter of conjecture. It may be D. paniculatum (L.) DC, which 

 is not listed. 



, There are about twenty species on the list which have not since been 

 found in the County. These are species which Dewey could hardly 

 have mistaken, and the synonymy is in no way confused. Several 

 collectors besides the writer have looked for these plants but without 

 success. The list is given in the Appendix in the hope that these 

 plants may still be found in the County. In many cases plants listed 

 by Dewey were looked for in vain for many years by those interested, 

 and finally found. In the case of Smilax rotundifolia only one plant 

 has been found, which may be Dewey's very indi\'idual. In the case 

 of Arctostaphylos and Phragmites it is certain that we have followed in 

 Dewey's very footsteps and found the same plants growing in the same 

 stations where he found them one hundred years ago. 



There are inexplicable omissions in Dewey's list; plants are absent 

 which he must have seen in the County and which had been described 

 and named before his day. He lists Selaginella rwpestris under the 

 name Lycopodium rupestre, but omits Lycopodium apoda. Potamo- 

 geton pusillus L., Viola lanceolata L., Desmodium nudiflorum (L.) DC. 

 are not on his list. 



Other plants which have since been added to the list Dewey simply 



