8 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Crown Point promontory, within an area of scarcely 50 acres, 13 

 species have been recognized, and in a certain locality within the 

 limits of Albany on an area of scarcely 2 acres there are 15 species 

 of Crataegus. Certain peculiarities of these groupings of species 

 are not devoid of interest. In the Rochester locality the section 

 Pruinosae is represented by 8 species, though C. pruinosa, 

 the pruinose thorn itself is absent. The section Tenuifoliae is 

 represented there by 11 species, but in the Crown Point locality 

 this section has no representative and the section Pruinosae has 

 but one and that is the pruinose thorn, the very one which is 

 absent from Rochester. Only 5 species are common to the two 

 localities, and these are species known to have a wide distribution. 

 The two most abundant species at Crown Point are the cockspur 

 thorn, C. crus-galli, and the round leaved thorn, C. coc- 

 cinea rotundifolia. These two species apparently con- 

 stitute fully one half of all the thorn growth of the locality. Sev- 

 eral of the other species are represented by only a few individuals 

 each. The dotted fruited thorn, C. punctata, is one of these 

 scantily represented species. It is a species of wide range and 

 probably occurs in more localities in our State than any other 

 species. If any place has but one species of thorn it is most likely 

 to be the dotted fruited thorn. If there are but two or three 

 species this is likely to be the most abundant one. About Albany 

 it and the cockspur thorn are common and nearly equal in abun- 

 dance. Its slight representation in the Crown Point locality is 

 therefore somewhat strange. 



The botanical department contributed specimens of 16 species 

 of edible mushrooms to the St Louis Exposition and, through the 

 Forestry Commission, photographs and other representations of 

 80 species of trees. 



Mr Stewart H. Burnham was employed as temporary assistant 

 from July 1 to Sep. 21. He has made a rearrangement of the 

 books and pamphlets of the library, and of the duplicate and 

 extralimital specimens of the herbarium, has put typewritten labels 

 on the shelves of the library and of the herbarium in order to facili- 

 tate reference to books and to specimens, and has prepared type- 

 written labels for a series of several hundred species of fungi that 

 are kept in pasteboard boxes, placed these labels on the boxes and 

 arranged them alphabetically. He has also assisted in the corres- 

 pondence of the office and in disinfecting specimens. By his em- 

 ployment it was possible to keep the office open in the absence of 

 the botanist while engaged in field work. 



