
          Lowell Nov 24th. 1842

 My Dear Sir

 I have delayed answering your
 kind letter of the 25th Octr [October], until I could induce Dr.
 Bigelow to make another search for that ill-fated
 specimen of the Onoclea Obtucilobata. It cannot be
 found in any part of the house, but Dr. Bigelow has
 an impression that it is somewhere mislaid, and that
 it come to light again some day. He thinks that he
 received it some twently years ago from Dr. Solon Smith
 of Sutton Mapth. I wrote to this gentleman last year, 
 and as I received no answer from him, I fear that he has
 either left the place or is dead. I will not cease to remind
 Dr. Bigelow from time to time of the coveted fern, and if it 
 shall be detected it shall be immediately sent to you.
 I shall be very grateful to you for any ferns you can
 spare me. They are the only family I have attended to much,
 and I am so occupied by my business that I neglect
 them. I received a package from England lately from Hooker
        