1879. | In North America from 1635 to 1840. 759 
whole book is written in Latin. In front of the book is a copper- 
plate (representing Magnolia frazeri Walt.) with the inscription: 
“To Thomas Walter, Esq., this plate of the new auriculated 
Magnolia is presented as a testimony of gratitude and esteem by 
his much obliged humble servant, John Fraser.” 
This man, John Fraser, was a Scotch botanist who collected 
from 1780 to 1784 in New Foundland, and from 1785 to 1796 in : 
the United States. After a voyage in Russia he came again to 
America with his eldest son, John, in 1799. He visited the Alle- 
ghanies, where before, in 1789, he had traveled with Michaux, 
and on the summit of the Great Roan it was that he discovered 
the beautiful Rhododendron catawbiense, now cultivated in many 
varieties. After a visit on the island of Cuba, where he met 
Humboldt and Bonpland, father and son returned to England 
in 1802. Once more, 1807, both came to North America. The 
elder Fraser died, 1811, in Glasgow, but his son returned to 
America, where he continued his excursions up to 1817. 
Palisot de Beauvais (1755-1820) came from St. Domingo to 
Philadelphia in 1791. He extended his excursions to the Chero- 
kee country in the Southern Alleghanies. Of his collections, a 
large part was lost by shipwreck. 
L. A. G. Bosc (1759-1828), a friend of Michaux, came from 
France to Charleston, in 1798, made some excursions in the 
vicinity of that city, traveled northward to Wilmington, N. C., 
and westward to the line of Tennessee. With a collection of 
1600 species, chiefly grasses and cryptogamous plants, he returned 
in 1800, to France. Parts of his collection are found in the her- 
baria of Ventenat, Martius, Moretti and De Candolle. 
Another Frenchman ought to be mentioned here not as a 
botanist, but because the matter he treated of is in near relation 
to botany. The Count Volney came to North America as an 
exile in 1795, and lived there till 1798. He had traveled pre- 
viously in the Orient and had written the famous work, “ The 
Ruins.’ In America he studied the soil and the climate. His 
“ Tableau du climat et du sol des Etats Unis d’Amerique,” was 
published in Paris, 1822. Though we cannot agree with all he 
said, particularly not with the statement that the ancient and 
annual fires of the Indians caused the prairies, the book contains 
much interesting matter, In the second chapter he describes, in 
_ general, the appearance of the country, particularly the extensive 
