—68— 



almost as successful. Dr. Underwood was a voluminous 

 writer on his chosen subjects, and his intimate knowledge 

 of critical groups gave his opinion much weight. In his 

 later years he became somewhat radical in his views on 

 nomenclature and species making, but never lost the good 

 opinion of his opponents, however much they differed 

 from him. Among his other published works are " North 

 American Hepaticse," " Review of the Genera of Ferns," 

 and a multitude of shorter papers, mostly descriptive 

 of new species or revisions of older § genera of ferns. 

 Numerous species of fernworts fungi and flowering 

 plants have been named in his honor. 



Dr. Underwood was a member of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club and for eight years editor of its Bulletin in the 

 pages of which much of his later work appeared. He 

 also published many notes in The Fern Bulletin. He was 

 a member of the American Fern Society and chairman 

 of the Board of Scientific Directors of the New York 

 Botanical Garden. Although for more than twenty-five 

 years he has been among the first fern students of the 

 world, he was only in the prime of life, with the prospect 

 of many years of usefulness before him. His untimely 

 end is cause for deep and sincere regret. 



George Edward Davenport was born in Boston Aug. 

 3, 1833, and all his life was spent in or near that city. 

 In his younger days he became acquainted with Wendell 

 Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison and thereafter was 

 counted among their friends. He was always interested 

 in plants and was well known for his contributions to 

 the botany of his State, but it was not until after his 

 marriage that he turned his attention to the ferns. 



In 1872 he joined the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety and a few years later presented this society with 

 his splendid fern herlbarium, to which he continued to add 

 during his life. In acknowledgment of this he was made 

 a life member of the Society and voted the Appleton Gold 

 Medal. He was one of the founders of the Middlesex 



