Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/764

692 with a free hand among bryologists and others who would appreciate it.

"In 1846 Mr. Sullivant communicated to the American Academy the first part, and in 1849 the second part, of his Contributions to the Bryology and Hepaticology of North America, which appeared one in the third, the other in the fourth volume (new series) of the academy's Memoirs, each with five plates from the author's own admirable drawings. These plates were engraved at his own expense, and were generously given to the academy.

"When the second edition of Gray's Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States was in preparation, Mr. Sullivant was asked to contribute to it a compendious account of the musci and hepaticæ of the region, which he did, in the space of about one hundred pages, generously adding, at his sole charge, eight copperplates crowded with illustrations of the details of the genera; thus enhancing vastly the value of his friend's work, and laying a foundation for the general study of bryology in the United States, which then and thus began. So excellent are these illustrations, both in plan and execution, that Schimper, then the leading bryologist of the Old World, and a most competent judge, since he has published hundreds of figures in his Bryologia Europæa, not only adopted the same plan in his Synopsis of the European Mosses, but also the very figures themselves (a few of which were, however, originally his own), whenever they would serve his purpose, as was the case with most of them.

"A separate edition was published of this portion of the Manual under the title of The Musci and Hepaticæ of the United States East of the Mississippi River (New York, 1856, imperial octavo), upon thick paper, and with proof impressions directly from the copperplates. This exquisite volume was placed on sale at far less than its cost, and copies are now of great rarity and value. It was with regret that the author of the Manual omitted this cryptogamic portion from the ensuing editions, and only with the understanding that a separate Species Muscorum, or Manual for the Mosses of the whole United States, should replace it." This work Mr. Sullivant was about to prepare at the time of his death.

Mr. Sullivant married Miss Eliza G. Wheeler, of New York, a lady of rare accomplishments, who became a zealous and acute bryologist, and ably assisted her husband in his scientific work until her death, of cholera, in 1850 or 1851. Her botanical services were commemorated by Schimper in the name of the Ohio moss, Hypnum SulUvantiæ. Two daughters and a son were the fruit of this marriage.

In 1848 Mr. Sullivant secured the co-operation of the accomplished botanist Leo Lesquereux, by whose labors his undertakings were substantially promoted. A characteristic feature of his