- 30 - 
in addition to the gain in methods of systematic, orderly study, and in our own 
personal knowledge of this particular field.” 
The Worcester Society of Natural History. Mrs. Ella L. Horr, Custodian 
OSCAR DANA ALLEN 
Professor Oscar Dana Allen died at Ashford, Washington, on February 
19, 1913. He was born at Hebron, Maine, on February 25, 1836. During 
the years 1876-1883 while professor of chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific 
School of Yale University, he was an active student of bryology. At 
this time he was fortunately associated with Prof. D. C. Eaton and carried 
on correspondence with many eminent contemporary bryologists, among others 
Lesquereux, James, Austin, and Rau. During the greater part of this period 
Prof. Allen’s son, Mr. J. A. Allen, was also interested in bryology, and much of 
the distributed material that has been accredited to the latter is really the pro- 
duct of their joint efforts. The extent of the field work done by these two 
workers may be appreciated from the fact that between them they were able to 
detect in Connecticut more than seventy-five species of liverworts and mosses 
which hitherto had not been recorded within the state. Of these, at least a 
dozen have never since been collected here, while two have been described as 
new species, viz.: Tkuidium Alleni Aust. and Fontinalis Allenii Card. Out- 
side of Connecticut their explorations extended into Maine, the White Mount- 
ains of New Hampshire, the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec, Cape Breton Island, 
and the Labrador Peninsula. Among the most noteworthy of Prof. Allen’s 
discoveries was the only known American station for the minute Brachydontium 
trichodes (Weber f.) Bruch., in Tuckerman’s Ravine, Mount Washington, 
New Hampshire. In addition, however, to being a keen observer, he was also 
a remarkably thorough and painstaking student of the bryophytes, as is at- 
tested by the critical notes which are appended to so many of his herbarium 
specimens. In 1884, on account of failing health, Prof. Allen retired from 
teaching and removed to California. In 1889 he took up a homestead in 
the upper valley of the Nisqually River, within the present limits of the 
Mount Rainier National Forest, Washington, and here he spent the remaining 
years of his life. While in California, and for some years after settling in Wash- 
ington, he confined his attention mainly to the study of phanerogamous plants, 
and for some time he was employed by the Gray Herbarium to collect sets of 
plants from the Cascade Mountain region. About the year 1898, however, he 
once more became interested in the study of the bryophytes in connection with 
the preparation of the “Mosses of the Cascade Mountains, Washington,” an 
exsiccata issued by Mr. J. A. Allen. This interest continued until shortly 
before his death. Various specimens collected by Prof. Allen have been dis- 
tributed in the exsiccatae of Austin, Grout, and Holzinger. The moss herb- 
arium accumulated by the Allens during their residence in New Haven, com- 
prising some three thousand specimens, has recently been purchased by the 
New York Botanical Garden. 
George E. Nichols. 
