SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
July 12, 1920 
Dr. B, L. RoBinson, 
Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, 
Cambridge , Massachusetts . 
Dear Doctor Robinson: 
Your letter of June 29th relating to the identification 
of Itc. Hitchcock’s British Guiana plants was duly received. 
Mr. Hitchcock had discussed with me the determination of the 
collection before his last letter to you, and we were agreed 
that ViThile the identification of the collection mi^t very 
properly be cooperative, it v/ould be best on all accounts to 
have the work directed by some one person, --in this case 
yourself. Such help as we can give here will, of course, be 
■very gladly given, but Iitr . Standley is already pretty heavily 
loaded up with work and except for families in which he is 
particularly interested or engaged in monographing, I doubt 
if he would feel that he could be of very much assistance. I 
shall be glad to name the ferns as soon as the plants are 
mounted and of course you can count upon Mr. Blake for those 
groups in which he is especially interested. I would suggest, 
therefore, that you take the matter up directly with Mr. Blake 
and, in the case of the Umbellif erae , with Doctor Rose. Mr. 
Standley would probably look after such of the Rubiales as are 
not easily recognizable. 
We should be very glad to have the partial list of identi- 
fications to which you refer. As an alternative to sending out 
partial lists, how would it do to prepare a single list of 
numbered entries for circulation amon,g the three institutions, 
the names to be written in by the botanists making the identifi- 
cations? This would merely mean a little extra postage. The 
fact of evident lacunae to be filled mi^t serve as a spur on 
everybody's part. 
As to the other groups I should certainly think it would be 
a good idea to send the orchids to Ames, the Senecios to Green- 
man, and the Loranthaceae to Doctor Trelease, who, I presume, 
would be glad to look after the Pipers also. 
I am engaged just now in laying out a set of my Jamaican 
ferns, and hope to get them off to you within a few days. The 
flowering plants, which will be listed separately, ou^t to fol- 
lovT within a short ^ime^, but it v/ill take some time to get iden- 
tifications for the^r'i^'togaras . 
With best regards, , 
