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JAMES LAWRENCE BENNETT. 
1832=1904 
We take the following notice of the death of our friend, Mr. Bennett, by 
permission, from Rhodora 6: June, 1904: “James Lawrence Bennett, whose 
name has long been associated with the flora of Rhode Island, died at Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, April 30th, 1094. Mr. Bennett was born in Providence, 
April 8th, 1832. He was educated in the public schools of his native city and 
prepared for Brown University, which, however, he was unable to attend. 
For many years he was a manufacturing jeweller, but found time for schol- 
arly pursuits and was widely read in the natural sciences. His keen inter- 
est in botany dated back at least to his twentieth year. His botanical 
collecting was done chiefly in Rhode Island, but extended to the White Moun- 
tains, which he visited about ten times. He made also smaller collections 
in northern Vermont, and in Tompkins County, New York. During 1890 
and 1891 Mr. Bennett was curator of the Herbarium of Brown University, 
and from 1891 to 1894 the curator of the Herbarium and Museum of Econ- 
omic Botany at the same institution. In 1891 he received an honorary 
degree of Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. In 1888 he published, 
under the auspices of the Franklin Society, his “Plants of Rhode Island, 
being an enumeration of plants growing without cultivation in the State of 
Rhode Island.” This publication of 128 pages, dealing with both the' flower- 
ing plants and several of the groups of cryptogams, is still the most com- 
prehensive catalogue of Rhode Island plants. Mr. Bennett’s herbarium of 
flowering plants has long been incorporated with the Herbarium of Brown 
University. It is said that his cryptogams were sold to the Brooklyn Insti- 
tute. — Benjamin L. Robinson.” 
I belive the last statement to be incorrect. In the fall of 1901 I pur- 
chased a large part if indeed not all of Mr. Bennett’s cryptogams, including 
several valuable Exsiccati. The Austin set Dr. Grout took, while I retained 
the Sullivant & Lesquereux,' Wright’s Cuban Mosses, a large collection of 
foreign mosses, sets from Hawaii, duplicates from many sources — several 
Exsiccati of Hepaticae, besides unnamed material. Mr. Bennett was evi- 
dently very fond of his collections, often referring to them in his letters as his 
little children, and he gave them into my keeping with the injunction to 
“love as well as care for them.” About this same time I purchased the 
entire collection of Mr. D. A. Burnett, of Bradford, Keene Co., Pa., recently 
deceased, and presented a full set, something over five thousand species, to 
the Brooklyn Institute, and this may have caused the above misstatement. 
Annie Morrill Smith. 
