I have just finished reading the February number of the Monthly, and am not quite satisfied with the information I got from a few paragraphs. First, in regard to Crataegus brachyacantha. We are all familiar with the fact that there is an acknowledged undescribed species of Crataegus found along the west slope of the Rocky Mountains, and usually referred to C. rivularis, i. e. by Prof. Watson in Vol. v., King's Report of the 4th Parallel, page 92; by Prof. Porter, in Hayden's Report, 1871, page 482; from Utah, by Prof. Coulter in Hayden's Report, 1872, page 765; by Prof. M. E. Jones in his Fascicles, No. 2, of Utah Flora, 1880; by Prof. Sargent in Forest Trees of America, No. 103. We may also quote Nuttall in Vol. 1, North American Sylva, as referring indefinitely to a doubtful form from the same place, and perhaps many others not at present recalled. But I am not sure that this is the form you refer to, neither do I know which Red River Drummond collected in - Red River of Louisianna or Red River of the North. So this may not be the form you have described under the name of C. brachyacantha, and probably the west Rocky Mountain species have not yet been properly made out and published; if so, hope you will do so at an early date.

But first, will you not give us more information of C. brachyacantha, particularly some of the synonyms and its habitat? Perhaps Mr. Letterman would be willing to tell us more of its peculiar characters and general condition; at least I should ask him to do so if I had the pleasure of his acquaintance, which unfortunately I do not possess.