
          [Note in pencil: Part of letter sent to [Jacob Whitman] Bailey July 2, 1850  (June 26)]


 consult you & Prof. [Asa] Gray. I am glad Dr. G took them in hand. I
 offered to take charge of the Fungi, if there were any, & received
 thirty species, one Lichen & one Hydrophyte. Not a very formidable
 collection, & a part of the species identical with some of your commonest
 forms. By Berkely's [probably Miles Joseph Berkeley] aid [added with caret: nearly] the whole are made out & described.
 There are eight new species.


 I am not at all acquainted with Davidson College, but I
 believe it is only a local affair-- an institution established by
 a Presbytery in that region. I recollect Dr. [Cyrus L.] Hunter's name
 among the original Trustees, & he can doubtless give you
 all needed information as well as forward the interests of
 your friend [Isaac Farwell] Holton. 


 Should you see Prof. [Charles Wilkins] Short after receiving this, do
 not fail to remember me to him. He has long owed
 me a letter, & I have for years been wondering what
 had become of him. 


 I did not see Prof. [Jacob Whitman] Bailey-- should be glad to meet with
 him.


 Can you enclose me a leaf of Betula papyracea [now Betula papyrifera]? I am
 anxious to settle a specimen in my Herb. [Herbarium] from the top of Black
 Mt. which is that or B. excelsa. I have only leaves. It would
 be curious enough, if it was B. papyracea, but most likely it is the
 other. I could not get at the trunk or aments, as the two or three
 trees were out of my reach on a precipice. The shape of the leaf
 is that of B. papyracea in Michx. Sylva [François AndréMichaux's North American Sylva].


 Believe me
 very truly yours
 M.A. [Moses Ashley] Curtis


 P.S. I have opened my letter to enclose a bit of root of Apple-tree just dug up in my Orchard, upon which a
 small Tuckahoe had formed, about 2 inches in diameter. The root sticks out at two sides of the 

        