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, . . EDITORIAL 



Mr. Willaru N. Clute will begin the publication next month 

 of a series of illustrated articles on the making of an herbarium. 



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A "Moss Chapter" similar in its scope to the Linnaean Fern 

 Chapter has recently been organized for promoting the study of our 

 mosses. It will be known as the " Sullivan t Moss Chapter," and is 

 under the presidency of Professor A. J. Grout, of Plymouth, N. H. 

 The secretary is Mrs. Annie Morrill Smith, 78 Orange street, Brook- 

 lyn, N. Y., and the official organ is TJie Bryologist, published as a 

 department of the Fern Bulletin. All moss students are invited to 

 become members. 





Since ecology, or the adaptation of plants to their environment, 

 has been shown to be such an important part of plant-study, a word 

 of caution should be spoken to plant collectors in regard to the proper 

 labeling of specimens. Formerly it was thought sufficient to give 

 even the locality in the briefest way, and in the older herbaria it is 

 common to find specimens labeled with only the name of the State or 

 indeed with such vague data as "Rocky Mountains," "Canada" or 

 "Southern States." Of course no hint is given as to the conditions 

 of temperature, soil or altitude under which the plants grew. In one 

 notable instance which came under our personal observation, a collec- 

 tion of plants in which locality, date, altitude and habitat had been 

 specified with the greatest care, may now be seen labeled " Utah, 

 1879." It is perhaps too much to say that all such specimens should 

 be discarded as worthless, but certainly much of the value they might 

 have had has been sacrificed. The habit, size and general character- 

 istics of a plant depend so much upon the conditions under which it 

 normally grows, that all of this information should be carefully re- 

 corded on the label. These facts are all at hand when the plant is 

 collected, and should be recorded as faithfully as the locality and date. 

 They cannot be restored, even by the collector, at a subsequent time. 

 And in this respect not all of our manuals of botany are above re- 

 proach. To say that a plant is "common throughout" assumes the 

 possibility of its being found anywhere from sea-limit to the tops of 

 the highest mountains, a condition which perhaps never obtains. 

 Economy of space is doubtless responsible for much of this brevity, 

 yet by careful selection an adequate idea of the precise habitat and 

 range can usually be given without the loss of much room. 



