1 82 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



I searched the side of the mountain, delving vainly in this 

 swamp or following the brooks. Then suddenly on my way home 

 I stopped to look into a last little swamp. And there, in all its 

 beauty stood plant after plant of the Purple-fringed Orchid. Next 

 dav the botanist arrived. He seemed a little suprised to find a 

 boy in short pants instead of the man he believed he was to 

 meet, and at first he queried me sharply as to whether I could 

 show him the plant he wanted. I apparently convinced him I 

 could, and since that day, the botanist and I have been fast 

 friends. 



It has been my joy on other occasions to locate new and rare 

 plants. Often when one least expects it, some new or rare species 

 will be discovered. Three years ago my chum and I had spent 

 the day photographing the purple-fringed orchid. Toward 

 evening we started for home, tired and happy. Suddenly I gave 

 a shout of joy. The slanting rays of the sun filtering through 

 the leaves had caught on a tiny spike of greenish blossoms: and 

 there, nestling beneath the dead leaves, we found our first speci- 

 men of the White Adder's Mouth. I rigged up the camera, 

 while Hank, my chum, got down on hands and knees for fur- 

 ther exploration. "Where there's one, there must be two," 

 he argued. But luck was not with him, search as he might, 

 he could find no other specimens. He was just about to give up 

 the search, when two tiny green leaves caught his eye, and a 

 second new species was added to our list, Loesel's Twayblade. 



Other discoveries have only been the result of long and patient 

 watching. We were asked one time to find out what insects 

 visited the Nodding Pogonia. For hours at a time we sat watch- 

 ing the plant, and never a bug did we see. Then one day, just 

 as I was seating myself for a long afternoon's watch, a little ant- 

 like bee came and entered a blossom. When he had probed 

 its innermost depths, he backed out, carrying the sticky pollen 

 mass with him. Heavily he flew to another blossom, and for 

 the first time the fertilizing insect of this species was discovered. 



That is the fun of orchid-hunting. One is brought into the 

 woods and swamps, often to places where the foot of man has 

 never before been placed. On every trip one may make some 

 new and unexpected find, and while one often returns home 



