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mate. Not a small number of them did then stay there, as 

 for instance Epigaea repens L. Although not found any 

 more in such an abundance and such a luxurious growth, as 

 it was the case with their ancestors in their original place, 

 their native country, they continued to thrive, to produce 

 flowers and seed and are now after many centuries, to saj- 

 it in one word, "indigenous." 



While plants of higher orders depend for their propaga- 

 tion naturally on their seed, such is not the case with many 

 of the lowest orders, for instance with Lichens. The more 

 the climate and localit}', in which they live, suits them the 

 more they seem to be' liable to produce abundantly their 

 spore-receptacles, their seed; at the same time, however, the}- 

 possess other peculiar organs, called soredia, which are be- 

 lieved to act also as organs of reproduction. It is in this 

 way certainly that nature tries to help a species to keep 

 itself in exi.stence, even if the same should happen to grow 

 in an unfavorable place. A vast number of specimens of 

 Lichens, such as Parmelia caperata (L.) Ach., Parmelia 

 crinita Ach. and others, were found by the author on the 

 south shore of Lake Erie in several counties of this State, 

 with a few exceptions always fruitless, but very often cov- 

 ered with soredia, frequently so much so that the entire 

 surface of the thallus had by them been taken possession 

 of, which tends to show that, although quite common, they 

 do not exist here in their proper place, their real home, and 

 that their presence is due to nothing but these last named 

 organs. In exactly the same, the sterile state, the author 

 found a number of specimens of Cetraria islandica (L.) 

 Ach.; they occur on a steep and quite barren hill, bordering 

 the valley of the Rocky River in Rockport township, Cuya- 

 hoga county. But a few patches (each about loO mm. 

 in diameter) stand there in a lone.some place, surrounded 

 on all sides by the moss Dicranum scoparium Hdw., while 

 another Lichen, Cladonia rangiferina (L.) Hoffm., grows 

 near by in abundance, as also here and there Cladonia 

 gracilis, verticillata Fr. and Cladonia furcata (Huds.) Fr., 

 all plants inhabiting colder parts also of this continent. 



