THE MAKYLANL) C'YCADS. 4(>7 



lai-e mimhoi- of persons in sncli u way llu.l th.y .unUl not fail to co.np.rluMul las 

 nu-anin- Ilavin- secuml on.- spe.nnu-n, !..■ .ainr.l it al.uut m Ins wa-on und 

 slunvetHt to all vvhom hr nu-t. His surpriso was -roat to lind tiuit u lai-c proi.oi- 

 tion of tin- inhabitants of the iron-ore distri<'ts had at, some time ni tluur lives s.'en 

 simihu- thin-s and were able to recoj^niize them. In some cases a person to whom 

 he would show his spe-^imen wonl.l reply at onee that there was such a stone m 

 hi. l.-irnvard ..r near his house, and by a very iittl.- ne-otiatu.n he was able easdy 

 to secure it Hv far the gn-aler number, in fact nearly all, of the specimens were 

 thus found in tli.- possession of the people. Many of Hum, couUl remember having 

 plou-h.'d them out of their lields. or taken them from their ore pits; others there 

 were" that had lain so Ion- aroun.l farmhouses whose occupants had several tunes 

 chan-ed that it was impossible to trace them to their original .source, but usually 

 even'in such cases there was a tra.lition lingering in the family with irgard to the 

 peculiar stones. The reason why they were so universally picked up and brought 

 to the house or the workshop or the barnyard or laid up in some conspicu.,ns place 

 seems to be that their peculiarity was instantly recognized. A countryman knows 

 every stone that he has seen atx.ut his place, and if there be one which differs 

 markedly from others, especially if it has a certain symmetry of form or shows 

 unusualand re-^ular markings, he at once distinguishes it, is impressed by its appear- 

 ance and probably, at first at least, couples with the notion of its strangeness some 

 va<^ue idea of its possible utility or money value. He therefore invariably picks 

 it up and sequestrates it in some way. After many years, finding that there is no 

 demand for it, that no one knows any use to which it can be put, he eventually 

 loses interest in it and it is pushed aside, forgotten, and perhaps covered up m some 

 obscure corner. So that in addition to the spe.'imens that Mr. Bibbins actually 

 obtained, there remain quite a number which are known to exist, but which lor 

 the present can not be found. 



Mr Bibbins always frames his questions with skill, taking care not to ask 

 leading ones, realizing" that the desire to please is liable to color the answer and 

 make It conform to what it is supposed he desires to have said. He therefore 

 always takes pains to induce these people to tell what they know independently 

 of any suggestion on his part. 



Is an illustration of the accuracy with which such persons often observe and 

 remember facts may be mentioned a case in which one of these traditional lost 

 specimens was being inquired after irom an octogenarian who remembered seeing 

 it some forty years before, and when asked if the "holes" in the stone were "round" 

 he rephed, "No, they were sort o' three-cornered," a remark which rendered it 

 certain that the object was really a cycad (pp. 295-296). 



Mr. Bibbins continued to secure cycads and send them to me. Many 

 trunks were found in the iron-ore region and brought to him by the inhab- 

 itants, who were now thoroughly interested in the subject. Prof. P. R. 



