23 



which occurred July 31, 1848, the preface of the work 

 havhig been written July 26, only five days previous. 



Mr. Oakes was impulsive and generous ; thoroughly in 

 earnest in his favorite study, he seriously impaired, his 

 fortune to carry out his schemes more perfectly. Like 

 many other men of note, he was hardly appreciated while 

 living, but no monument which could have been erected 

 would have made his memory more cherished or his worth 

 more appreciated by the present generation of botanists 

 than that which be left behind, — an extensive collection 

 of most beautifully prepared botanical specimens, with an 

 identification absolutely correct, besides many valuable 

 notes and observations. Prof. Tuckerman dedicated to 

 him a pretty little plant common in the region of Plymouth, 

 but it afterwards had to be transferred to another genus ; 

 and now for the first time in any flora, it becomes a pleasant 

 dut}' to give by its name, "Oakesia," the little bellwort, a 

 common Essex County plant, which Prof. Watson of 

 Cambridge has fonnd necessary to separate from the 

 senus to which it has heretofore been referred in his re- 

 vision of the family Liliacese, and has feelingly dedicated 

 to the memory of William Oakes. 



Dr. Charles Pickering, son of Timothy and Lurena 

 (Cole) Pickering and grandson of Col. Timothy Pickering 

 of revolutionary fame, was born at Starucca Creek on the 

 Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, in 1805. He was educated 

 at Harvard in the class of 1823, graduating at the medical 

 school in 1826. In 1838 he was appointed naturalist to 

 the U. S. (Wilkes) Exploring Expedition; and to perfect 

 his knowledge of animals and plants in foreign parts, he 

 made very extensive journeys after his return from that 

 expedition. He was the author of several works of great 

 value which in their preparation required much untiring 

 research ; among them are "Geographical distribution of 



