178 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
head of a boys' hi^^h school at Pittsficld and was at the same time a 
professor of chemistry in the Medical College at Pittsfield and also 
at the Medical College at ^Yoodstock, Vermont. He died in 1867. 
Dewey prepared a list of the plants of Berkshire County for the 
History of the County which was published by Rev. Dr. Field in 1829. 
This list, now nearly one hundred years old, has remained the only 
catalogue of the flora of the County. It contaias the names of about 
800 species and varieties of native flowering plants, ferns, and fern 
allies. The habitat of each plant is indicated in a very general way, 
and occasionally a definite locality is gi\en. "With the assistance of 
Mr. Frank Walters, the writer has made an analysis of this list with 
the following results. 
There are about twenty-five names on the list of plants which are 
undoubtedly erroneously determined, such as Clmtonia iimhelhdafa, 
Besmodium viridiflorum, Viola striata, etc. It is sometimes possible 
to determine with little doul)t what plant Dew-ey had in mind, c. g., 
Clintonia vmhclhdata is without doubt C. horealis (Ait.) Raf. which is 
not included in the list. "What is intended by Desmodiwn viridiflorum 
is a matter of conjecture. It may be D. panicidatvm (L.) DC, which 
is not listed. 
There are about twenty species on the list which have not since been 
found in the Count}'. These are species which Dewey could hardly 
have mistaken, and the synonymy is in no way confused. Several 
collectors besides the writer have looked for these plants but without 
success. The list is given in the Appendix in the hope that these 
plants may still be found in the County. In many cases plants listed 
by Dewey were looked for in vain for many years by those interested, 
and finally found. In the case of Smilax rotimdifolia only one plant 
has been found, which may be Dewey's very indi\'idual. In the case 
of Arctostaphylos and Phragmites it is certain that we have followed in 
Dewey's very footsteps and found the same plants growing in the same 
stations where he found them one hundred years ago. 
There are inexplicable omissions in Dewey's list; plants are absent 
which he must have seen in the County and which had been described 
and named before his day. He lists SelagincUa rupestris under the 
name Lycopodium rupestre, but omits Lycopodiiim apoda. Potamo- 
geton pusillns L., Viola lanceolata L., Dcsmodium niidiflorum (L.) DC. 
are not on his list. 
Other plants wliich have since been added to the list Dewey simply 
