NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
BOTANY. 
COLLECTED NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN Oaks. — The first 
American oak noticed in botanical works is the white oak, ML by 
Parkinson in “Theatrum Botanicum," 1640, as Quercus alba Virginiana. 
Banister, 1686, in **Catalogus Plantarum "n Virginia Observ ataram ” (in 
Rayi Historia) mentions Quercus alba virens (as Virginiana sempe ns), 
Phellos € im Marilandica) with a drawing by Ray, and neers We. 
(as Q. pum 
nt » * Amagestum Botanicum," 1696, enumerates Quercus esculi 
divisura, Pie is Q. rubra L., Q. Americana rubris venis (Q. coccinea Wg.), 
var. y (DC.), Q. Virginiana salicis longiore folio (Q. Phellos L.), Q. Vir- 
giniana sempervirens (Q. virens Ait.), Q. castanee folio ( Q. prinus palustris 
Michx.), Q. pumila castanee folio Virginiensis (Q. prinus pumila Michx.), 
Q. rubra, papaa and Prinus palustris, are illustrated. 
Catesby in his ** Nataral History of Carolina,” 1731, names Q. alba, Pri- 
a tica 
Walt., he knows under the name Quercus folio non serrato; his Q. esculi 
divisura is Q. erap asma and his Q. humilis "wn folio breviore is 
Q. cinerea Michx.; all except the latter are illustra 
Charlevoix in ** "Histoire et vituli générale de e Nouvel France,” 
Paris, 1744, knows Q. prinus palustris Michx., Q. alba L., Q. virens Ait., 
and Q. nigra L.; he gives drawings of the three latter. 
In — stunt us eae ean 1743, containing the pee which John 
Cla obse Virginia, we find Q. Phellos, nigra, atica, Prinus 
pcan — ih he calls Q. pumila bipedalis, fei stelata Wg. (to 
him Q. alba) and falcata Michx., which he calls rubra 
Kalm in his travels, or rather in his ‘‘ Preliminary "Redit on his Bo- 
tanical Collections," 1751, mentions only four oaks. Q. rubra and alba, 
the Spanish oak (Q. falcata Michx.) and another one with three lobes at 
the apex of the leaves, which is perhaps the var. triloba of the latter (Q. 
triloba Michx.). These are the American oaks known at the time when 
Linnsus' **Species Plantarum," 1753, was published. Linné established 
five species, Q. Phellos, comprising Q. virens and cinerea as varieties 3 and 
7- Q. nigra x and g (x being aquatica Walt.), Q. rubra, comprising rubra, 
coccinea and Catesbei, Q. prinus (Q. prinus palustris Michx.) and Q. alba. 
Du Roi published (in ** Harbke'she wilde Baumzucht," Braunschweig, 
1771) a new species, Q. palustris. 
Marshall published his ** Arbustum Americanum,” in 1785, in which he 
described the following oaks: Q. alba, Q. alba minor=stellata Wg., Q. 
alba palustris, which is apparently Q. Prinus tomentosa Michx., not Q. 
3 (1835 
