154 



A large part of Lake County is the sandy region — to which we have no paral- 

 lel — left by the receding of Lake Michigan to its present bounds. There are in 

 northwestern Lake County — the southeast part of the region covered by Higley 

 and Raddin's catalogue — some lakes and marshes which present conditions similar 

 somewhat to our own. These localities in Lake County have been so thoroughly 

 examined that it is not strange to find some of our less frequent species also 

 "very infrequent" there. Most of all the references made are to plants very 

 rare or local in Lake County. Many of our common species would not be found 

 in Lake County, and very many common Lake County species would not be found 

 here at all. While Lake County offers similarities in a small part of its territory, 

 the Lake region of Northeastern Indiana and the Lake County region, as a whole, 

 are dissimilar. 



Notes in General, Upon Occurrence and Distribution of Rare or In- 

 teresting Species. 



Those who have published lists covering any part of Northeastern Indiana 

 do not claim them to be complete, and doubtless new plants are yet to be observed. 

 By comparing the partial catalogues referred to with my own collections I find a 

 total of some nine hundred and fifty species reported from the " Lake Region of 

 Northeastern Indiana." 



It is to be regretted that Mr. Bradner has not given in his catalogue** any 

 notes as to abundance of species, or to distribution over the territory. With the 

 exception of one or two instances it is impossible to tell whether a supposable 

 rare plant is rarely or more commonly met with, or in what kind of soil, or under 

 what conditions it is found. If scarce, whether it is recently noticed and just 

 appearing, or whether formerly seen and just disappearing. With the geology of 

 the county given by townships in the same volume, Mr. Van Gorder's reference*^ 

 to scarcity or abundance, and to locality by townships, is very helpful. 



It would seem that much more importance should be placed on these anno- 

 tations than is often done. The helpfulness of richly annotated lists is double 

 that of those with bare names of species. 



'n7th Rep. State Geologist Ind. 1891-2, p. 135. 

 'nsth Rep. State Geologist Ind. 1893, p. 33. 



