tioned his friends against forming too hasty conclusions as to the disease-carrying properties of the fungi. Instead of being the cause of disease, they were as likely to be its result.
Dr. Curtis had an extensive correspondence with American and European botanists, who always recognized the part he took in the progress of the science in this country as important. Dr. Chapman dedicated the first edition of his "Flora of the Southern States" to him. The "American Journal of Science" in 1873, after his death, thus measured his work: "All our associate's work was marked by ability and conscientiousness. With a just appreciation both of the needs of science and of what he could best do under the circumstances, when he had exhausted the fields in phenogamous botany within his reach, he entered upon the inexhaustible ground of mycology, which had been neglected in this country since the time of Schweinitz. In this difficult department he investigated and published a large number of new species, as well as determined the old ones, and amassed an ample collection, the preservation of which is most important, comprising, as it does, the specimens, drawings, and original notes which are to authenticate his work. By his unremitting and well-directed labors, filling the intervals of honored and faithful professional life, he has richly earned the gratitude of the present and ensuing generations of botanists."
The bibliography of Dr. Curtis's writings includes "Enumeration of Plants growing spontaneously around Wilmington, N. C." (1834), twice reprinted with additions and emendations; "New and Rare Plants of North Carolina" (1842); "Contributions to Mycology of North America" (1848); "New and Rare Plants, chiefly of the Carolinas" (1849); "Contributions to Mycology of North America" (Berkeley and Curtis, 1849); "New Fungi collected by the Wilkes Exploring Expedition" (1851); "Geological and Natural History Survey of North Carolina; Part III, Botany, containing a Catalogue of the Plants of the State, with Description and History of the Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines" (1860); "A Commentary on the Natural History of Dr. Hawks's 'History of North Carolina'"(1860); "Esculent Fungi" (1866); "Geological and Natural History of North Carolina; Part III, Indigenous and Naturalized Plants" (1867); "Edible Fungi of North Carolina" (1839). The first of these works was published in the Boston "Journal of Natural History," and the last in the "Gardener's Chronicle," London. The others were published either in "Silliman's Journal" or as separate publications.
