FROM 1837 to 1854. — From the beginning of the University, collections in the field of natural history received much attention. At the first meeting of the Board of Regents in Ann Arbor on June 5, 1837, a committee "on the Library, Philosophical Apparatus, and Cabinet of Natural History" was appointed consisting of Edward Mundy, John F. Porter, and Elon Farnsworth. At the November meeting Henry R. Schoolcraft introduced a resolution directing the committee to look into: "The propriety of instituting such inquiries and taking such preliminary steps as may be proper, to lay the foundation of a suitable collection of specimens for the University Cabinet, in the various departments of Natural History" (R.P., 1837-64, p. 17).
It is not certain when the first collection of plants was received. It was probably part of the material obtained in the first Geological Survey of Michigan in 1838 under the direction of the state geologist, Douglass Houghton. The survey was authorized by an act of the legislature (Act No. 49, 1838) that specified:
Specimens shall be collected and preserved in the following manner, to wit: first, the state shall be supplied with single and good specimens; second, if more similar specimens than one can be found, sixteen more, if possible, shall be procured, to be distributed by the regents amongst the university and its branches.… To entitle the university and its branches to any of the benefits of this act, of the aggregate amount herein appropriated, four thousand dollars shall be refunded to the state treasury from the university fund, … and within one month from the passage of this act, the regents of the university shall file in the office of the secretary of state their assent to the provisions thereof.
The Regents, however, passed the following resolution:
Resolved, That the Regents feel it their duty to withhold their assent to the appropriation contemplated by the Act of the 22d March, 1838. Yet they hereby pledge themselves for the erection of such buildings as may be necessary and otherwise to provide for the preservation of such specimens as may be collected under said Act and at any time intrusted to their care.
(R.P., 1837-64, p. 45.)
Nevertheless, the collections from the survey apparently came to the University, for in the Proceedings of the Regents for January, 1840, is the statement: "Your Committee further recommend that Dr. Houghton be authorized to place a part, if not the whole, of the specimens in geology, mineralogy, and zoology, now in his hands, belonging to the State, in the University buildings under the charge and control of the Board of Regents."
Although botanical specimens were not mentioned these doubtless were also in Houghton's charge at that time. The Regents had previously authorized the renting of a room for Houghton and had provided that one of the four buildings intended as homes for the professors should be used to house "the Cabinet of Natural History … and for other general purposes," until the main buildings should be completed (R.P., 1837-64, p. 70). The custodianship of the University was finally validated by an act of the legislature, in 1846, in which it was stated:
The various specimens of geology, mineralogy, zoology, botany and all other specimens pertaining to natural history belonging to the state, and now deposited in the University buildings be, and the same are hereby transferred to the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, …
Although the survey began in 1838, most of the plants were collected in 1839, when the two most southern ranges of counties were surveyed. John Wright, with the assistance of George H. Bull, was given charge of the botanical phase. Wright stated that between 800 and 900 species were examined and approximately 9,000 specimens were collected. During other years, members of the survey, especially by Douglass Houghton and Abram Sager, collected some plants although they were mostly concerned with other phases of the survey.
In 1838 Asa Gray was appointed Professor of Botany and Zoology. He was never in residence, however, during his short tenure and probably had no part in the development of the botanical collections. In 1839, Douglass Houghton was appointed Professor of Geology and Mineralogy without salary, and the natural history specimens were placed under his supervision. In 1841 the collections were moved to the Main Building, later designated Mason Hall, which had just been completed. From correspondence between Zina Pitcher and Silas H. Douglass in 1846, the latter apparently had some supervision of the collections immediately following Houghton's death in 1845. The letters indicate that Pitcher and George P. Williams, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, both of whom were interested in the botanical collections, advised Douglass. In a letter to Douglass, Pitcher stated that Asa Gray, at Harvard, had consented to revise the determinations and classification of the botanical specimens, with the proviso that he should retain a set. It seems doubtful, however, that Gray did this since the Gray Herbarium does not contain specimens or records of such a transaction, and the early collections of the University Herbarium do not bear annotations. The only record of an addition to the botanical collection is a letter (Oct. 3, 1846) from Regent Pitcher mentioning the gift of his private herbarium of Michigan plants.
On the resignation of Asa Gray in 1842, Abram Sager was appointed Professor of Botany and Zoology without salary until he should be engaged in instruction (see Part III: The Department of Botany). Although he probably was not in residence until 1848 he may have assisted Houghton with the collections. In 1855 he resigned this position to devote his entire attention to the professorship of obstetrics and physiology, which he had also held from 1850. Because of his early training under Torrey and Eaton he had developed a strong interest in botany and zoology. He was associated with Houghton in the first Geological Survey, giving most of his attention to zoological phases. When he took up his duties at the University, the natural history collections were one of his major responsibilities. In the available records there is no evidence that any important botanical collections were added under his direction. He must have been actively interested in botany, however, since, in 1866, he gave his herbarium of 1,200 species to the University (Winchell, "Museum Rept.," 1866). This interest continued even after his resignation of the professorship of botany and zoology, and in 1874 he presented 100 plants, which he had collected in Florida and South Carolina while in the South for his health.
From 1855 to 1880. — In 1855 Alexander Winchell (Wesleyan '47, LL.D. ibid. '67), transferred from the professorship of physics and civil engineering to the professorship of botany, zoology, and geology. Under his direction the Natural History Museum developed a definite organization. From 1863 to 1873 annual reports were published, and in 1870 a daily journal was begun which was continued until 1880. There is, therefore, considerable information available concerning the activities of the Museum for this period. During the early part there were only a few additions to the botanical collection. In 1859 and 1860 the Geological Survey of the state was continued under Winchell's direction. In 1860 N. Winchell was employed as botanist, and the northern shores of the Lower Peninsula and the islands at the head of Lake Huron were surveyed. The University received about 300 entries and 1,000 specimens of plants from this survey. In 1863 the Museum contained a collection of 1,500 species from Michigan, 400 from the southern states, and 225 from Germany. As already mentioned, Professor Sager presented his herbarium to the University in 1866. In 1867 Josiah T. Scovell collected about fifty species of plants on an expedition to the mining region of Lake Superior and in 1868 Albert E. Foote ('67m), Assistant in the Chemistry Laboratory, organized an expedition to Lake Superior which spent considerable time on Isle Royale and added 275 species, numbering about 350 specimens, to the Herbarium.
In 1868 two students graduated from the University who later played important parts in the development of the Museum. Both Mark W. Harrington and Joseph Beal Steere, as seniors, had helped in the Museum without compensation (Winchell, "Rept.," 1868). Mark Walrod Harrington ('68, A.M. '71, LL.D. '94) upon graduation was appointed Assistant in the Museum, and for two years, as part of his duties, he catalogued the Herbarium, collected and identified specimens, and prepared collections for exchange. The following statement is from Winchell's report of 1871:
Mr. M. W. Harrington, the efficient regular Assistant in this Department for the past three years, having attached himself to the Government Expedition to Alaska, it is my plan to secure in his place, two or three energetic and aspiring young men, who will count the educational advantages of the position a large part of the just compensation for their services. Messrs. E. L. Mark, A.B., & J. F. Eastwood, A.B., have already entered upon duty under this arrangement.
(R.P., 1870-76, p. 142.)
In 1871 and 1872 Harrington was in Alaska as astronomical aid for the United States Coast Survey. He did not neglect the botanical opportunities, which were offered, but his collection of plants went to the Smithsonian Institution, although the University later received a set. On his return in 1872 he collected in the vicinity of San Francisco and brought the specimens back to the University.
In September 1870, Joseph B. Steere sailed on a trip which lasted for five years, during which time he collected extensively in the Amazon Valley, on the coast of Peru and Ecuador, and in the East Indies, China, and the Philippines. His botanical collections totaled about 1,156 specimens.
Between 1868 and 1873 other important additions included the herbarium of Dr. George L. Ames, containing 17,500 specimens, presented by his wife, and that of Houghton, containing 9,000 specimens, presented by his widow. Collections were also received from J. T. Scovell, Colorado, from G. W. Ramage, Texas and Louisiana, from Joseph C. Jones ('72, A.M. '75), from the north shore of Lake Superior, and from Charles J. Kintner ('70), California. In 1873 Winchell reported the botanical collection as totaling 6,491 entries and 36,385 specimens.
On Winchell's resignation in 1873, Eugene Woldemar Hilgard (Ph.D. Heidelberg '53) was appointed Professor of Mineralogy, Geology, Zoology, and Botany. He, however, served only two years. Mark Harrington had been promoted to Assistant Professor of Geology, Zoology, and Botany in 1873, and was largely responsible for the development of the collections in the Museum from 1873 to 1876. Many of the collections were obtained through exchange. The herbarium of Adams Jewett, containing 2,500 specimens, was received from his son H. S. Jewett. A large addition of German plants was acquired by a gift from S. S. Garrigues and a collection was obtained through President Angell from Professor Paul Reinsch, of Germany. Other important collections were received from Howard Shriver, Virginia, J. F. Eastwood, West Virginia, J. F. Joor, Louisiana and Texas, J. Clark Moss, Colorado, J. G. Lemmon, California, and from W. H. Dall and Marcus Baker, Alaska. Cryptogams received more attention than hitherto. Ferns were given by George E. Davenport, A. B. Lyons, Mrs. Mary O. Rust, and Miss Fannie Andrews. The Steere collections added important mosses and ferns. The Reinsch collection contained many mosses, and the Garrigues herbarium added numerous fungi. In addition, a collection of one hundred New England fungi was purchased from Byron D. Halsted.
In 1875 Harrington had charge of studies in Olmsted, Dodge, and Steele counties for the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota. In the report of this survey, N. H. Winchell states: "Professor Harrington … was compensated only by the payment of his field and traveling expenses. He also had the privilege of retaining such botanical specimens as he could gather, for the purpose of enlarging the already magnificent collection of plants in the Museum of Michigan University."
Apparently, there was much local interest in botany in Ann Arbor at this time. Harrington acknowledges volunteer help provided in the Herbarium by Miss E. C. Allmendinger, Miss Catherine M. Watson, Miss Louisa M. Reed, Professor John F. Eastwood ('71, Ph.D. '87), and Neddie Tyler ("Journ. Mus.," 1875, p. 92). For a number of years, Miss Mary H. Clark, who with her sisters conducted a seminary for young ladies in Ann Arbor, had been developing a herbarium. Alexander Winchell, in his report of the flora of the state in 1861, acknowledged his indebtedness to her for numerous records. Miss Elizabeth C. Allmendinger not only developed a herbarium but also published a list of the plants within a radius of four miles of Ann Arbor, listing 848 species. These collections were later given to the University.
In 1876 Harrington was granted leave of absence to study abroad. He took ferns from the Steere collection with him to Kew, where he finished his identifications, and in 1878 the result of his study appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society (16: 25-37). This is apparently the first research paper based on botanical collections of the University to be published by a member of the faculty.
Harrington resigned in 1877 to take a position as professor of astronomy and mathematics in China. Volney M. Spalding ('73, Ph. D. Leipzig '94), who had been appointed Instructor in Zoology and Botany in 1876 to assist while Harrington was abroad, continued in this position following the latter's resignation. In 1876 Joseph Beal Steere ('68, '70l, Ph.D. hon. '75) was appointed Assistant Professor of Paleontology and Curator of the Museum. Spalding apparently had charge of the botanical collections under Steere's direction. In 1879 Steere was given the title of Professor of Zoology and Curator of the Museum, and Spalding was made Assistant Professor of Botany, apparently continuing in charge of the Herbarium. From 1876 to 1881 there were very few additions to the botanical collections, although more specimens from the Steere expedition were received. Harrington returned to the University in 1879 as Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory, but his interest in botany continued. In 1879 Spalding reported that Professor Harrington "performed much gratuitous labor … upon plants which had been secured to the University through his instrumentality" and that he had contributed several collections of plants to the Herbarium.
From 1881 to 1920. — In 1881 there was a reorganization of the Museum. The Regents adopted regulations in which it was stipulated that the professor in charge of instruction in each subject should be curator of the corresponding collection in the Museum of Natural History. Spalding, who was made acting Professor of Botany in 1881, consequently became Curator of the botanical collection. In the same year a Museum building was completed, and the natural history collections, with one exception, were moved from Mason Hall. The Herbarium remained under the care of the Botany Department in Mason Hall. The Regents' Proceedings of 1881, however, specifically included the botanical collection as part of the Museum of Natural History.
There was no provision for a supervising director of the Museum as a whole. Each curator was independent and was required to make an annual report to the President of the University concerning the collection under his charge. These reports were not published, and only one of Professor Spalding's has been found ("Rept.," 1886, Angell Papers). How long Professor Spalding as Curator continued them is not certain. President Angell cites items from the curator's reports until 1887, when they probably ceased. That there had been such a requirement was apparently forgotten, since, in 1918, Professor Newcombe transmitted the report of J.H. Ehlers to President Hutchins with comments concerning the desirability of annual reports and the statement that "the enclosure is, I believe, the first report that the Phanerogamic Herbarium has ever made" (R.P., 1917-20, p. 428).
In 1904 Spalding resigned, and in 1905 Frederick Charles Newcombe ('90, Ph.D. Leipzig '93), who had been a member of the Botany Department since 1890, was appointed Professor of Botany. In 1905 Charles Albert Davis (Bowdoin '86, Ph.D. Michigan '05) was appointed Curator of the Botanical Herbarium. Davis had given considerable attention to the flora of Michigan while a professor at Alma College from 1887 to 1901. He had been Instructor in Forestry and a graduate student at the University from 1901 to 1905, and had served as Curator from 1905 to 1908 at a salary of $200. In 1908 Forest Buffen H. Brown (Michigan '02, Ph.D. Yale '18) was Curator of the Herbarium and also Curator of the Botanical Garden. The larger staff of the Botany Department, with varied specializations, resulted in an increased interest in the Herbarium, and in 1912 Calvin Henry Kauffman (Harvard '96, Ph.D. Michigan '07) was appointed Curator of the Cryptogamic Herbarium, and Henry Allan Gleason (Illinois '01, Ph.D. Columbia '06), Curator of the Phanerogamic Herbarium. Both were also on the staff of the Botany Department. The Herbarium at this time was housed in a room on the fourth floor of the South Wing of University Hall. Owing to lack of space a part of the collection was stored in bundles in the attic. A disastrous fire in 1913 destroyed this material, and damage from water and smoke necessitated discarding part of the remainder. In 1915 the Botany Department moved to the newly erected Natural Science Building, where the phanerogamic collection occupied a room on the third floor and the cryptogamic collection a room on the fourth, the two being connected by a spiral stairway. In 1916 John Henry Ehlers ('99, Ph.D. '14), Instructor in Botany, succeeded Gleason as Curator of the Phanerogamic Herbarium.
There are only a few records of accessions for this period. In 1886 a gift of $100 from Joseph B. Whittier, of Saginaw, made possible the purchase of Ellis' North American Fungi. In 1887 a set of plants from the Lake Superior region was received from Frank E. Wood. In 1894 Collins, Holden, and Setchell's Phycotheca Boreali-Americana, Briosi and Cavara's Funghi Parasiti, and Seymour and Earle's Economic Fungi were purchased. A gift of 2,000 plants collected by Lewis Foote while engaged on the United States Lake Survey was received in 1903.
In addition to the herbaria in the Department of Botany another botanical collection developed in the University. Since, in 1913, only the collections of zoology and anthropology were housed in the Museum of Natural History Building, the title was changed to the Museum of Zoology. In 1912 Charles Keene Dodge ('70), of Port Huron, who had been active in the botanical phases of the Biological Survey of the state, was placed in charge with the honorary title of Associate Curator of Botany in the Museum of Zoology, without salary. Mr. Dodge contributed 5,000 species of plants to initiate the collection. In 1918 Dodge died, leaving his herbarium of 35,000 specimens to the Museum, and Cecil Billington was appointed Honorary Curator to supervise the collection. This herbarium was maintained as a separate collection until 1921. Among other accessions received during this period were Rocky Mountain plants from Edgar M. Ledyard, Nevada plants from the Walker-Newcombe expeditions, ferns from A. A. Hinkley, and Michigan specimens from Cecil Billington.
The botanical collections of the University for the most part increased as the result of investigations concerning the flora of Michigan. Under Professor Spalding cryptogams first received special attention. Spalding and Fanny Elizabeth Langdon ('96, M.S. '97), Instructor in Botany, studied the myxomycetes in the vicinity of Ann Arbor. Lorenzo N. Johnson, Instructor in Botany from 1892 to 1896, added many specimens to the Herbarium. He sent specimens to Ellis and Peck who described a number of species from them. Ill health resulted in his resignation in 1896, and his death followed a year later at Boulder, Colorado, terminating prematurely a very promising career. Studies by Harriet L. Merrow added many specimens of parasitic fungi, especially rust. Adrian J. Pieters ('94, Ph.D. '15) and Julia Snow were responsible for the botanical phases of a biological investigation of Lake St. Clair (1893) and western Lake Erie (1898), under the direction of Jacob E. Reighard of the Department of Zoology. James Barkley Pollock (Wisconsin '93, Sc.D. Michigan '97) and C. H. Kauffman published papers on Michigan fungi in the Reports of the Michigan Academy of Science for 1905 and 1906, and until 1918 Kauffman continued to publish annually papers listing fungi previously unreported for the state.
In 1905 the legislature passed a bill providing that a biological survey of the state, in addition to the Geological Survey, be made under the direction of the state geologist. Alexander G. Ruthven was appointed chief naturalist of the survey in 1907. Most of the funds available for it were used to help support studies by various biologists. The University of Michigan co-operated in these investigations, and the University received part of the collections. In 1904 an expedition visited Isle Royale and the Porcupine Mountains, Ontonagon County, under Ruthven. In 1905 a party from the University visited Isle Royale, and W. P. Holt was responsible for the study of the flora. In 1906 Charles Albert Davis published results of his research with peat in Michigan and in the same year he studied the flora of the Walnut Lake area, Oakland County, as part of the biological investigations. The publication in 1918 of Kauffman's Agaricaceae of Michigan was not only a comprehensive treatment of the group for the state but was also one of the most outstanding for North America.
Kauffman was in Sweden in 1908 to obtain information concerning agarics from the area in which Fries's studies were made. Often accompanied by students, he extended his investigations to various parts of the United States. He was in the Lake Placid area of New York in the summer of 1914, in Olympic National Forest, Washington, in 1915, near Harlan, Kentucky, and Elkmont, Tennessee, in 1916, and in Leal, Colorado, in 1917. During World War I, in 1918 and 1919, he was on leave serving in the Plant Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C. During this time he made many collections in Maryland and Virginia, and in the summer of 1920 collected at Tolland, Colorado.
H. A. Gleason prepared a monograph of the Vernonieae for the North American Flora. In 1913-14, while on leave of absence, accompanied by B. E. Quick, he studied and collected plants in the Far East.
From 1921 to 1929. — In 1921 the various botanical collections, the phanerogamic and cryptogamic herbaria in the Department of Botany, and the herbarium in the Museum of Zoology were united in the Herbarium of the University of Michigan, which was given a separate budget. Kauffman was appointed Director and Curator of Cryptogams and John H. Ehlers, Curator of Phanerogams. Both were also members of the staff of the Department of Botany. Cecil Billington was given the title of Honorary Curator. He maintained an active interest in the Herbarium and contributed money for assistantships and field studies. In 1926 May V. Cannon, who had served for a number of years as Assistant, resigned and was given the title of Honorary Custodian of Basidiomycetes in recognition of her services to the Herbarium, and Bessie Bernice Kanouse (Michigan '22, Ph.D. '26) was appointed Curator and Assistant to the Director. Frances J. Thorpe (Ellsworth '14, M.A. Michigan '25), who had been an Assistant since 1924, was appointed part-time Research Assistant in 1929 and devoted her attention to studies of bryophytes and the care of the collection. In 1928, the new Museums Building having been completed, the Herbarium moved to its present quarters on the fourth floor of the research wing.
The study of the flora of Michigan continued to be a major investigation. Ehlers was on the summer session faculty at the Biological Station on Douglas Lake and continued the study of the phanerogamic flora of that area. Gates and Ehlers published annotated lists of the higher plants for the region in 1924, 1927, 1930, and 1948. Billington published several papers concerning flowering plants. Kauffman, in addition to studies in the Ann Arbor area, spent the summer of 1927 in the Upper Peninsula accompanied by Bessie B. Kanouse and A. H. Povah, and, with his students, continued investigations there in 1929. Kanouse published results of studies of the Leptomitaceae and Blastocladiaceae in Michigan.
Kauffman spent some of his summers in field studies in other parts of the country, usually accompanied by students. In 1921 he stayed in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and in 1924, at Elkmont, Tennessee, and Hot Springs, North Carolina. He collected at Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania, near his boyhood home, in 1924 and 1926. With John H. Ehlers, in 1922, studies were carried out in the Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, at Copeland, Idaho, and in the Oregon National Forest. Accompanied by Kanouse in 1923, investigations were continued in the Medicine Bow National Forest. In 1925 he worked at Lake Quinault, Washington, and in the Siskiyou National Forest, Montana, and at Grand Lake, Colorado. Kauffman published twenty papers concerning fungi, especially the Agaricaceae. Monographs of the genera Cortinarius and Inocybe were prepared for the North American Flora. He also published concerning the genera Armillaria, Lepiota, Clitocybe, Gomphidius, Flammula, and Paxillus for the United States. Kanouse was engaged in studies of the Phycomycetes and published concerning the families Blastocladiaceae, Leptomitaceae, and Pythiomorphaceae, and species in the genera Mucor, Pythium, and Saprolegnia.
In 1929 the Herbarium contained 184,712 specimens in the classified collections and approximately 75,000, which had not been distributed. In addition to the specimens resulting from the studies described above, important collections were received through gifts, exchanges, and purchases. Only a few can be mentioned here. Howard A. Kelly gave his herbarium of fungi and lichens, and the library facilities of the Herbarium were greatly increased by a gift from him of an extensive library especially rich in rare and important mycological publications. He also donated 831 paintings of fungi, mostly by L. C. C. Krieger and E. M. Blackford.
In 1929, with financial help from Dr. Kelly, the lichen library and herbarium of Professor Bruce Fink of Miami University were purchased, increasing the material available in this group by 16,760 specimens. Joyce Hedrick (Mrs. Volney H. Jones) who had been Professor Fink's assistant, was appointed Research Assistant for lichens. Specimens of fungi from West Virginia, collected by Nuttall, were received. A number of exsiccatae were added. Important collections of grasses were received from A. S. Hitchcock and Mrs. Agnes Chase of the Department of Agriculture. The Alaskan collections of Ynes Mexia were purchased. The tropical American flora was represented through the collections of Chickering, Mexia, and Stevens. Hawaiian collections of Degener were obtained. Among the collections received from other botanists in the University were the materials resulting from the study of the genus Rosa by Eileen Erlanson, the collection obtained by Carl O. Erlanson on the MacMillan expedition into the Arctic, and collections resulting from a study of the Sumatran flora by H. H. Bartlett.
From 1930 to 1953. — In 1930, because of the illness of Professor Kauffman, Edwin Butterworth Mains ('13, Ph.D. '16), of Purdue University, was appointed Acting Director and, following Kauffman's death in 1931, he became Director. William Randolph Taylor (Pennsylvania '16, Ph.D. ibid. '20) of the University of Pennsylvania was appointed Curator of Algae in the same year, and both also were appointed as professors in the Department of Botany. The investigations of Kauffman concerning the Agaricaceae developed facilities, which offered unusual opportunities for a continuation of research in the group. In consequence Alexander Hanchett Smith (Lawrence Coll. '28, Ph.D. Michigan '33), who had studied with Kauffman, was appointed Research Assistant in 1932. He became Botanist in 1945, and was made Professor of Botany in the Literary College in 1950.
In 1930 arrangements were made between the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the University of Michigan for a biological survey of the Mayan area of Central America. Consequently, in 1935, Cyrus Longworth Lundell (Southern Methodist University '32, Ph.D. Michigan '36) was appointed Assistant Curator. In 1939 Ehlers reached the retirement age, and Lundell succeeded him as Curator of Phanerogams and Ferns. Lundell resigned in 1944 to accept a position at Southern Methodist University and was succeeded in 1946 by Rogers McVaugh (Swarthmore '31, Ph.D. Pennsylvania '35), who was also appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Botany and in 1951 was promoted to Professor. Betty Robertson [Clarke] was Assistant Curator on a part-time basis in 1944 and 1945.
Frances Thorpe resigned in 1935, and William Campbell Steere ('29, Ph.D. '32), Instructor in Botany, was appointed Research Associate in the Herbarium to further research in the bryophytes and to supervise the development of the collection. He was made Curator of Bryophytes in 1945, and was also chairman of the Department of Botany when he resigned in 1950 to accept a position at Stanford University. The lichens continued to be supervised by Joyce Hedrick Jones, who was made Assistant Curator on a part-time basis in 1944.
World War II interrupted investigations. W. C. Steere was on leave of absence, engaged in explorations in Colombia and Ecuador for quinine-producing plants for the Board of Economic Warfare. C. L. Lundell was on leave of absence in connection with exploration for rubber-producing plants in Mexico. E. B. Mains, in addition to his duties as Director of the Herbarium, served as acting chairman of the Department of Botany during the absence of H. H. Bartlett.
The researches of the Herbarium have continued in floristics, phytogeography, and taxonomy. The results have been published in 329 articles and nine books. The study of the flora of Michigan has been one of the major activities of the staff. The Biological Station has served as a center for research in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, by John H. Ehlers and Rogers McVaugh for flowering plants, by W. C. Steere for bryophytes, and by A. H. Smith for fungi, all having been on the summer session staff of the Biological Station for various periods. Other areas receiving special attention have been Sugar Island and the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan for flowering plants by Rogers McVaugh, and Sugar Island and the Keweenaw Peninsula for bryophytes by W. C. Steere. Fungi have been studied in the Harbor Springs, Munising, and Marquette areas and in the Keweenaw Peninsula by E. B. Mains, and in the Tahquamenon area by A. H. Smith. During this period forty-seven papers giving results of the studies of Michigan flora have been published in various journals, and data from Michigan collections have been included in many others. In addition, the publications Liverworts of Southern Michigan by W. C. Steere, and Common Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms of Southeastern Michigan and Puffballs and Their Allies in Michigan, both by A. H. Smith, deserve special mention.
The biological survey of the Mayan area by the Carnegie Institution and the University placed special emphasis on tropical American botany. In 1931 Harley H. Bartlett worked along the Belize River and the northern edge of the Mountain Pine Ridge of British Honduras and around Uaxactún, Guatemala, in 1932 Steere visited central Yucatán, and in 1933 Lundell was in British Honduras and the region around La Libertad, Guatemala. During the summer of 1936 Mains and Lundell investigated the flora of the high-rain forest and the Mountain Pine Ridge in the southern part of the El Cayo district, British Honduras. In 1937 Lundell studied the flora of the Río Moctezuma Valley, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, and in 1938 he visited Yucatán and Quintana Roo, Mexico. The results from these expeditions have appeared in more than thirty-five papers in various publications and in twenty-one papers in two volumes entitled The Botany of the Maya Area. Although co-operation with the Carnegie Institution was terminated in 1939, investigations of the flora of tropical America have continued. Steere studied the bryophytes of Puerto Rico while exchange Professor at the University of Puerto Rico in 1939-40 and published concerning the bryophytes of El Salvador, Colombia, and Ecuador, in addition to those of the Mayan area. Rogers McVaugh is engaged in a study of the phanerogamic flora of Jalisco, Mexico, and spent parts of 1949, 1951, and 1952 in field studies in that state.
Investigations concerning flowering plants include monographic studies of the Celastraceae, Polygonaceae, Myrsinaceae, and Rutaceae by Lundell. He contributed the treatments of the Rutaceae, Celastraceae, Theophrastaceae, and Myrsinaceae for the "Flora of Panama" (to be published by the Missouri Botanical Garden) and initiated the preparation of the Flora of Texas, spending parts of the years 1940-42 in field studies in Texas.
McVaugh has been engaged in a study of the genus Prunus in North America. Field investigations were made in Texas and New Mexico in 1947, in southeastern United States in 1948, and in Michoacán, Jalisco, and other states in Mexico in 1949. He is also engaged in monographic studies of the Campanulaceae and Myrtaceae and has prepared the treatments of the Rosaceae for "Flora of Panama," the Myrtaceae for "Flora of Peru," and the Campanulaceae for Arizona Flora and for Flora of Texas. With Joseph H. Pyron he published the Ferns of Georgia. Studies have been made by him concerning early botanical explorations in North America.
Investigations of the bryophytes have been made for many areas in North America. Frances Thorpe reported concerning the bryophytes collected by Erlanson and Koelz in Greenland. Steere published a number of papers on the bryophytes of the Hudson Bay region and the Canadian eastern Arctic. In 1948 he headed a party supported by the Botanical Gardens of the University and the Navy to Great Bear Lake in the Canadian western Arctic. He studied the distribution pattern of mosses in Alaska in 1949, and he has published concerning species from Little Diomede Island in Bering Strait. Results of investigations concerning the phylogeny and distribution of mosses have been reported in papers concerning the Cenozoic and Mesozoic bryophytes of North America and Pleistocene mosses of Louisiana and Iowa. Steere also prepared the treatments for the families Calymperaceae and Erpodiaceae and the genera Didymodon, Barbula, and Tortula for Grout's Moss Flora of North America.
W. R. Taylor engaged in investigations concerning the taxonomy, morphology, and reproduction of algae. The results of his studies on the Atlantic coast have been published in the Marine Algae of the Northeastern Coast of North America. Other investigations have included studies concerning the marine algae of the tropical Atlantic Ocean, the Straits of Magellan, the coasts of Peru and Chile, the Marshall Islands, Java, and the Philippines. Taylor has also published studies of fresh-water algae of Isle Royale, Michigan, Newfoundland, Guatemala, and Colombia. He was a member of two Hancock expeditions, in 1934 to the Galapagos Islands and the Pacific coasts of Mexico and Central America, and in 1939 to the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific coasts of Mexico and Central America. In 1946 he was in the Marshall Islands engaged in botanical studies in connection with the "Crossroads" atomic bomb project of the U. S. Navy on Bikini. The results have been published in Plants of Bikini and Other Northern Marshall Islands. In 1949 he was on sabbatical leave engaged in a study of the marine algae of Bermuda.
The emphasis in the investigations of A. H. Smith has been on the large group of fleshy fungi, the Agaricaceae. His monograph North American Species of Mycena appeared in 1947 and his general treatment of fleshy fungi, Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats, in 1949. The genera Cantherellus, Collybia, Cortinarius, Galerina, Kuehneromyces, Leucopaxillus, Lepiota, Lyophyllum, Melanoleuca, Nematoloma, Psathyrella, Pseudocoprinus, Rhodopaxillus, Rhodophyllus, Tricholoma, and Xeromphalina have received extensive study. Dark-spored species are being studied in culture to obtain data concerning their development and genetics and to evaluate taxonomic characters. Field studies have been made in eastern North America: in northern New York in 1934, at Lake Timagami, Ontario, in 1935, and in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1938; in Pacific Coast states in 1935, in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon in 1941, in Idaho and Oregon in 1946, in Mt. Rainier National Park in 1948 and 1952, and in Wyoming in 1950. Smith has collaborated with L. R. Hesler in studies concerning fleshy Basidiomycetes of the southeastern United States and with Rolf Singer in investigations of the Agaricaceae of South America.
In other investigations of fungi, E. B. Mains, through facilities furnished by the Botanical Gardens (see Part III: The Botanical Gardens), has studied the host specialization of species of rusts and powdery mildews. Resistant varieties and selections of wheat, delphinium, and phlox to their powdery mildews and of snap-dragons and iris to their rusts were discovered. The inheritance of resistance of wheat to powdery mildew and of snap-dragons to rust has been reported. From taxonomic investigations of the Uredinales papers concerning the genera Spumula, Tegillum, Chaconia, Skierka, Ctenoderma, Maravalia, Bitzea, Scopella, Blastospora, and Angiopsora have been published. The genus Hydnum and the family Geoglossaceae have been studied. During the past fourteen years entomogenous fungi have received major attention, and results of investigations concerning the genera Cordyceps, Hirsutella, Gibellula, Hymenostilbe, Akanthomyces, Insecticola, Tilachlidium, and Synnematium have been published. Field studies were made in New Hampshire in 1938 and 1939, in Colorado in 1940, and in Montana and Washington in 1941.
Investigations of Phycomycetes have been continued by Bessie Kanouse, who has published concerning Saprolegnia parasitica and the genus Endogone. Major emphasis has been on the Discomycetes, especially of Michigan and of northwestern United States. Her publications include treatments of Gelatinodiscus, Pseudocollema, Otidea, Plectania, Helvella, and Morchella.
Joyce Hedrick Jones has published papers concerning the lichens of the American tropics, Michigan, the northwestern United States, and Alaska. She also revised Fink's manuscript of The Lichen Flora of the United States for publication.
Owing to the increase in the collections, space in the Museums Building became insufficient, and in 1947 the collections of algae and bryophytes were moved to the Museums Annex. This, however, did not provide enough space for the distribution of all identified specimens in the classified collections so that it has been necessary to store approximately 150,000 specimens. The classified collections in 1954 contained 123,479 fungi, 39,750 lichens, 14,999 algae, 57,475 bryophytes, and 249,725 vascular plants, a total of 485,428 specimens. They provide materials not only for the studies of the staff of the Herbarium but also for other biological investigations of the University. In addition, between ten and thirty-six loans of 600 to 7,500 specimens a year have been made to aid in researches at other institutions.
Accessions to the collections have been obtained from researches of the Herbarium and from those of the staff and graduate students of the Department of Botany. An average of 5,800 specimens a year has been received through exchange. A number of accessions have been gifts, the most important being the herbarium of Parke, Davis and Company, of Detroit, of 27,264 specimens. The University also received the company's botanical library containing many rare publications. Purchases for the most part have been limited to a few exsiccatae.
The Parke-Davis herbarium added collections of vascular plants of Farwell from Michigan, of Bigelow, Heller, Rusby, Nash, and Lemmon from the United States, of Rusby, Bang, Morong, and Triana from South America, of Pringle, Palmer, Orcutt, von Tuerckheim, and Schaffner from Mexico and Central America, of Teysmann, De Vriese, Korthals, Duthie, Hooker, and Wallich from the East Indies and India, of Heller from Hawaii, and of Boissier, Schimper, Schweinfurth, Schlechter, and Burchell from the Levant and Africa. An important herbarium of the plants of the Indiana dunes was received as a bequest of Marcus W. Lyon, Jr. Other accessions were collections of Muller, Wiggins, Shreve, Gentry, and Matuda from Mexico, of Krukoff, Dusén, and Jansson from Bolivia and Brazil, of Hassler from Paraguay, of Bartlett from Argentina, of Koelz from northern India, of Clover from Arizona, and of Tharp, Cory, and Whitehouse from Texas.
From the duplicates of bryophytes in the Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden more than 4,000 specimens were obtained, including paratypes of Hooker, Wilson, Mitten, and Underwood. Collections of Drummond, Polunin, Soper, and Potter added accessions from the North American Arctic. The herbarium of F. M. Pagan added 2,512 Puerto Rican specimens. Other accessions were collections of Standley and Steyermark from Guatemala and of Bartlett from Sumatra, the Philippines, and Formosa.
Among the accessions of marine algae were those of Setchell and Gardner from the west coast of North America, of B. M. Davis from New England, Jamaica, and California, of Bøygesen from the Danish West Indies, of Wormersly from southern Australia, and of Bartlett from the Sulu Sea and Haiti.
Additions of fungi included collections of J. J. Davis from Wisconsin, of Hesler from Tennessee and North Carolina, of Burke from Alabama, of Baxter from Alaska, of Whetzel from Bermuda, of Holway from South America, of Singer from Argentina, of Sammuelson from Sweden, of Stevens from Hawaii and the Philippines, of Cheo from China, and of Hiratsuka and Kobayasi from Japan and eastern Asia. Among the gifts were the herbarium of A. H. Povah, which added specimens from Michigan and elsewhere in North America, and several important exsiccatae and the herbarium of P. M. Rea of fleshy fungi of California. A gift of duplicates from the Farlow Herbarium added lichens from tropical America, China, and the Canadian eastern Arctic. Among other accessions of lichens were collections of Polunin, Lepage, Dutilly, and Gardner from Canada, of Pringle and Matuda from Mexico, and of Herre from the Philippines, and Lojka's Lichenotheca Universalis.
Edwin B. Mains
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