THE PLANT WOKLD 241 



It certainty would not overburden the Commissioners to watch the 

 forests in the sections Avhich they are supposed to know thoroughly, and 

 make regular reports to the State Board, thus giving information that 

 the experts could act upon. 



When some such idea as this shall have spread beyond the commis- 

 sion's reports and into the actual working life of the community, we may 

 have gotten one step nearer to that time when the needs of the body 

 politic have overcome the selfishness of its individual members. 



PEEKSKILL, N. Y. 



WHERE LICHENS GROW.* 



By Thomas A. Wilwams. 



NOT long since, while the writer was collecting lichens in the woods 

 near Washington, he was accosted by one of a number of boys who 

 were fishing near by with " Say, Mister, what are you getting off of 

 them rocks ?" This question answered, the next was,"They ain't alive, are 

 thej ?" and then, " What do they live on ?" As the explanation pro- 

 ceeded, other of the lads gathered about and soon, instead of one, there 

 were a half dozen enthusiasts engaged in the collection and study of 

 lichens. It was remarkable how soon the boys learned to distinguish 

 between the common species growing on the earth, rocks and trees, and 

 their eager questions showed that, like Lurella, in "The Village School- 

 master," they " wanted to know." 



Soon the discussion turned to the subject of the usual habitats of 

 such plants; each lad could tell of some peculiar or out-of-the-way place 

 in which he had seen some particularly nice examples of these lovely 

 plants, during some of his rambles in the woods. The gray, green, 

 yellow and brown patches of lichens on rock or tree had arrested his 

 attention, and he had " wondered what it was." And so on for an hour 

 or more. 



When the boys finally left, talking among themselves about the 

 curious plants they had been gathering, and carrying with them a good 

 illustration of the fact that the commonest things about us are often the 

 most wonderful and interesting, one could not help a feeling of indigna- 

 tion at those teachers ( and their number is, unfortunately, not small ) 

 who take these bright boys, and girls too, and after years of instruction 



*Editorial Note. — In response to several requests we are reprinting trom Vol. V. 

 No. 5, of T/ie Asa Gray Bulletin, this article by the late Professor Williams. The 

 original closed with an invitation to students to submit material to the author for 

 naminjj; and up to the time of his death he had received many specimens from readers 

 of this article, which was the first of a series on the subject. 



