89 



igate in the frail barks that serve lor ferries, and the inlets are usually in- 

 fested with both sharks and " 'gators." The best collecting ground is usu- 

 ally within 300 yards of the coast line. The ordinary guide books state 

 that " there is nothing of interest below Lake Worth," but one who has 

 seen the country below from a botanical standpoint says " there is nothing 

 above Lake Worth," Botanically this is doubtless the most interesting 

 region of all Florida. The part between Lake Worth and Miami has so far 

 as we know never been trodden by a botanist. Around Miami and on the 

 neighboring Keys have been found most of the remaining tropical ferns of 

 Florida, viz.: PolypocUum Sirartzii, Asplenium serratum, A. dentatum, Nephro- 

 lepis acuta, Pteru longifolia, Tirnitis lanceolata and Aneimia adiantifolia. 



Some ai>ditiuns to the istatk flora ikom I^ltnam county. By Lucien M. 



IJXDEKAVOOD. 



While the higher flora of Indiana seems to be fairly well known, it is 

 surprising to find so little on record regarding the lower cryptogams of the 

 state. Except a short paper on " The Mildews of Indiana,"* a few bulletins 

 from the experiment station relating to some injurious fungi, a shortlist of 

 mosses and lichens from Richmond,! and a few scattering notes in the 

 Botanical Gazette, nothing has been placed on record, which, however, is far 

 from saying that nothing has been done in this direction. It is a question 

 whether as teachers of botany we have not swung the pendulum too far in 

 training our students to become expert section- cutters and discrioainating 

 histologists and have thereby left out of their course that cultural feature 

 of botany that comes only from bringing them in direct contact with na- 

 ture. I plead for considerable field work as an invaluable adjunct to labora- 

 tory instruction. In a year's study of botany a student ought to become 

 fairly proficient in the manipulation of the microscope and at the same 

 time learn how and where plants grow (and especially the less conspicuous 

 plants), and where their position is in the system, thus gaining a love for 

 nature as well as a knowledge of the methods of manipulation. Botany 

 ought to be a cultural study as well as a purely technical one. When we 



-J. N. Rose, Botanical Gazette, XI, CO-'J:! (188(1). 



tMary P. Haines, 8th, 0th and 10th Ann. Reports, Geol. Survey, 235--J;!9 (1870). 



