182 



Mycologia 



by W. J. Youmans, then editor of that journal, are based largely 

 on Wood's paper. An appreciation of Curtis' work, and outline 

 of his activities by Asa Gray (ii), which was originally pub- 

 lished in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences, was reprinted with only a slight verbal change in the 

 American Journal of Science and later in the scientific papers of 

 Asa Gray. In addition to the publications mentioned and others 

 which will be cited, the writers have obtained considerable infor- 

 mation from other sources. 



By far the most important source of information regarding 

 Curtis, to which the writers have had access, is the correspon- 

 dence of the late Prof. Edward Tuckerman, Jr., of Amherst, 

 Mass. This correspondence, fortunately preserved almost com- 

 plete, and now the property of Tuckerman's nephew. Judge E. T. 

 Esty, of Worcester, Mass., to whom the writers are greatly in- 

 debted for permission to use the material here presented, forms 

 an exceptionally valuable source of information regarding the 

 botanists of that time. The correspondence between Tuckerman 

 and Curtis began about 1839 and extended to 1867. A packet of 

 letters written by Curtis to E. C. Howe, of New York, covering 

 the period 1866 to 1870, was kindly loaned to the writers by Mr. 

 Stewart H. Burnham, of Hudson Falls, N. Y. Several letters 

 from Curtis are in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences of Philadelphia, for the use of which the writers are in- 

 debted to the secretary, Dr. Edward J. Nolan. In addition to 

 those above mentioned, the writers have been furnished valuable 

 information by Prof. Elmer A. Green, Registrar of Williams 

 College, Curtis' son, the Rev. Charles J. Curtis, of Accokeek, 

 Maryland, and Dr. W. G. Farlow, of Harvard University. 



Sketch of Curtis' Life 



Moses Ashley Curtis was born May 11, 1808, at Stockbridge, 

 Mass. His father was the Rev. Jared Curtis, then of Stockbridge 

 but later, for many years chaplain of the State prison at Charles- 

 town.^ His mother was a daughter of Gen. Moses Ashley. He 



1 The reference to Curtis having been born in Charlestown, found in The 

 Letters of Asa Gray (12, Vol. 2, p. 652, footnote), is evidently a mistake, due 

 to the fact that his father was for a long time a resident of that city. 



