SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
S. P. LANGLEY 
SECRETARY, 8MITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
Washington, d. c., November 8, 1898. 
Professor J. Franklin Collins, 
126 East Avenue, Providence, R. I., 
Dear Sir: 
The package ©f oaks referred t© in your 
note t© Mr. Coville dated November 3rd., has been placed in my hands for 
examination. 1 have also shown them t© Professor Lester F. Ward, who 
has made a somewhat careful study ©f this genus. Your undetermined numbers 
seem all t© be referable to Q,. coccinea ; the specimens labelled t inct©r ia 
£or velutina^ are doubtless correctly determined, although they present 
some remarkable forms. So much depends ©n the bark and the aspect of the 
tree in these two species that it is difficult to be certain as to herba¬ 
rium specimens. I should have taken the ©ak which you say Professor Sar¬ 
gent named Q. Prinus to be Prinus X alba , for the genuine P rinus does 
not exhibit such remarkable variations from the type. 
Yours very truly, 
HoaJLa 
Assistant Curator, Division of Plants 
