The Portland daily press., 1895-07-15
JOsSELYN BOTANICAL SOCIETY.
Second Days Session of the Maine
BOtanists.

The Society Named After Names Oldest
Botanist-A List of the Officers Chosen
The second days session of the Maine
Botanists opened at the Natural History
rooms Saturday morning at ten O'Clock.
Mrs. Mary E. Taylor. teacher of botany
in the Portland schools, read paper on
the teaching of botany, which was dis
cussed by several members, including
Prof Leslie A. Lee of Bowdoin college,
Miss Hacker of Plymouth, N. H., Miss
Rice of New York and Mr.. Ames of Bos-
ton. Several good hints as to the proper
method of creating an interest in the
public for the study of plant life were
gathered from Mrs. Taylor's paper and
the remarks that followed.
MI NJ L. Fernald then gave his talk
on the geographical distribution of plants
in Maine He stated that Maine had two
foras really, southern flora, containing
many plants that were common in the
states south of us, and which grew more
and more rare as one got away from the
southern line of the state and finally dis
appeared altogether, and northern flora,
common to Canada, but which disap-
peared entirely as the centre of the state
was reached coming south. Between
these two regions enough systematic work
had not been done''to enable description
of the flora to be given. Mr. Fernald
had prepared map which showed the
limits both north and south, at which
various plants had been found or rather
had been reported. He stated that with
the little knowledge that had been OBJ
tained from many localities it was i'm
possible to make such map at all accu-
rate, but he hoped to give a general idea
of the situation so that during the coming
year it would be better known what gaps
needed filing up and therefore more sys-
tematic work could be DONE His remarks
were of great interest and his method of
illustrating them showed the influence of
climate on the growth of the plants, and
the dwindling out from one region and
the creeping into another of the various
those present and his answers added
much to the interest of the session.
At the afternoon session the com mittee
of arrangements reported as to organiza-
tion. The following list of officers were
reported and all were unanimously
elected:
President-Prof. A L. Lane, Water
vile.
Vice Presidents-Prof. Leslie A. Lee.
Brunswich Mrs. H. c. Beedy, Farming
ton; Miss Mary A. Clark, Ellsworth Mrs.
Edward L. Rand, Cambridge, Mass
Secretary-M. L. Fernald, Cambridge,
Mass.
Assistant secretary-Mrs Mary E.
Taylor, Portland.
Treasurer Ellen M. Cram Port
land.
Committee on Distribution-M. L..
Fernald, Cambridge, Mass; Miss Kate
Furbish. Brunswick; Miss Lillian Graves,
Pr que Isle; Mrs G. W. Keyes, Farming
to. Q. H. Knowlton, Pennington.
Committee on Plant Lore-Mrs. n. K,
Morrell, Gardiner; Mrs. H. G. Beedy.
ner; J. 2. Thompson, Portland; Miss
Isabelle Allen, Portland.
Committee on Bryophytes-J. G.
Collins, Providence, r. L Miss M. A.
Clark, Ellsworth; }. L Phinney,
Machias; E. L. Rand, Cambridge, Mass. !;
IIOl. w. .. Ddyl6y, MdbSTflll6.
Committee on Algae-F S. Collins,
Maiden, Mass. Prof. F. L. Harvey,
Orono; Miss E. A. Winslow, Westbrook.
Committee on Fungi and Lichens-
Prof F. L. Harvey, Orono; J. K. Parks,
Portland; Miss c. e. Cummings,
Wellesley
DIR. VIM. Wood of the Portland society
of Natural History, was chosen honorary
president
When it came to giving the society a
name, Mr.. Fernald stated that he had
brought with him an old book written by
John Josselyn, an Englishman, brother
Of Henry Josselyn, who was prominent
in the government of this region in 1640
John Josselyn published in 1871 a book
entitled, "New England Rarities Dis
covered in Birds Beasts, Fishes,
Serpents, and Plants of the Country, -
etc., and in this volume are the first
authentic records Of Maine plants. Mr.
Fernald offered as suggestion that the
society be named after him. After con-
siderable discussion vote was taken
which resulted in large majority for the
name "Josselyn Botanical Society," The
only dissenters were those who wished to
give geographical distinction to the
society through its name, and for this
purpose the name was amended SO that it
was finally decided on as the Josselyn
Botanical Society of Maine.
After talk on the ways and means of
carrying on the society, this matter was
left in the hands of the executive COM
mittee to report on at future meeting
This committee consists of the officers and
chairman of the variousseommittees
Today, if pleasant, the members of the
society will take botanizing excursion
to Blackstrap. They will leave IN barges
from the rooms of the Natural History
society on Elm street, at ten o'clock this
morning for an all day trip.