
          [at top left: 45
Recd. July 8th
Ansd. Oct. 26.]

Cincinnati July 1st 1839.

Dr. J. Torrey

Dear Sir,

Your letter of the
8th December came to hand in due time, and
I now undertake to reply to it; but I beg leave
before I mention any thing further in this communication, 
to introduce the Bearer of this , Mr. Mason 
- to you as being a friend of mine, and a
very worthy young man, who is now on his way to
New-Haven, where he intends to enter Yale College,
and complete his education. he has been a
co-laborer with me in one of the "common Schools"
of this city, and requested that introduction: - He
also brings you a very few plants among which are
a few fine specimens of the [Paliriana?] which I mentioned 
before, and from which you will probably have
a good opportunity of learning the characters, at least
those which belong to the plant itself. You will
find an imperfect description of it's habits color
habitat etc. in a paper with the specimens. I had
a species of Potentilla which I wished you to see,
but after turning over about two thirds of my collection
of specimens, which took considerable time as they
are just up in the order in which they came from
the torculum - I found I had either overlooked
it or else had not come to it and I had not
time

[ left margin: from the J. J. Crooke Collection]
        