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where an accessible set of the plants of the entire state which may serve 

 as the basis of a complete catalogue. 



In regard to the assistance that local and amateur botanists can render 

 the survey we will say that their work can be made of inestimable value 

 if properly directed. The publication of county lists with nothing back 

 of them except the opinions of persons whose general acquaintance with 

 the flora of the country is slight, is not to be encouraged. Back of every 

 note and every local list there ought to be a well kept collection, and in 

 the case of rare plants there should be duplicates placed in some one of the 

 larger public collections so that the identity of the plant in question can 

 be placed beyond the danger of being lost as soon as the novelty of the first 

 collection wears off. The colleges at least where botany is made a subject 

 of some importance ought to have a collection of state plants for constant 

 reference. In some of the larger high schools also the collection of the 

 local flora can be made a useful adjunct of the year's study of botany and 

 the town high school can thus serve as a local centre of botanical interest 

 that will keep alive the local development of the subject among many 

 who would otherwise drift away from botany into something else. Nor 

 should this interest be confined to " manual " plants. Mosses, lichens, 

 fungi and alga- should also form a rational part of the field study even in 

 the high school period. 



Finally we invite a thorough co-operation of all the workers of the state 

 to assist in placing the definite record of the Indiana flora in safe keep- 

 ing, and develop as widely as possible the knowledge of the extent and 

 distribution of the plants of the state. 



It is deemed advisable to present as complete a list as possible of the 

 Indiana cryptogams that have been collected already in order that it may 

 serve as the starting point for further work. In this list nothing is admit- 

 ted unless accessible specimens exist in some collection that is likely to 

 become permanent.* We include therefore the following material : 



■■' Most of the specimens herein named are deposited in the Underwood Herbarium as 

 probably the largest cryptogamic collection in the state. This collection so far as the 

 plants below the Pteridophytes are concerned contains the various groups as follows : 



Musci— About iXKi species represented by about 3,(XiO specimens. 



Hepatica'— About 1,300 species represented by about 7,(KX) specimens. 



Fungi— About 3,500 species represented by about 9,0CH> specimens. 



Lichenes— About 300 species represented by about soo specimens. 



Algic— About 200 species represented by about r.iiO specimens. 

 With the Pteridophytes of the collection the herbarium contains nearly 8,000 species 

 represented I»y some 'i-'LOOO specimens. Kxcept the ferns, this collection has l)een accu- 

 mulated mainly since l^sV and contains numerous rare exsiccatiu. 



