PREFACE BY DR. TORREY. 



My much lamented friend Mr. Croom, had 

 nearly completed the printing of this Cata- 

 logue, when he was obliged, in consequence 

 of the lateness of the season, to take his de- 

 parture for his residence in the South ; confid- 

 ing to me the superintendence of the remain- 

 ing proof sheets, and the distribution of copies 

 of the work to his friends. Unfortunately he 

 embarked, with his wife and three children, 

 in the steam-packet Home, which, in two days 

 after leaving New- York, was wrecked on the 

 coast of North Carolina. By this dreadful 

 catastrophe about ninety persons perished ; 

 among them, Mr. Croom and all his family \ 



Mr. C. was an ardent lover of Botany and 

 a successful cultivator of the science. In his 

 annual visits to Florida, he availed himself of 

 the opportunities which he enjoyed of exam- 



