PREFACE 



the woods and fields, and at home with the micro- 

 scope. Among the books consulted which have been 

 especially helpful for ferns are Gray's Manual, Mrs. 

 Dana's How to Know the Ferns, Clute's Our Ferns in 

 Their Haunts, and Waters' s Ferns. To the last we are 

 especially indebted for information about spores and 

 the growing of young ferns. 



Marshall's Mushroom Book, Gibson's Our Edible 

 Toadstools and Mushrooms, Palmer's About Mush- 

 rooms, and Atkinson's Studies of American Fungi have 

 been most helpful in the work on those interesting 

 plants. 



For the study of mosses and lichens Macmillan's 

 Footnotes from the Pages of Nature, Grout's books on 

 Mosses, and Lindsay's British Lichens were consulted. 

 Hervey's Sea Mosses and Arnold's Sea Beach at Ebb 

 Tide were of great assistance in the study of seaweeds. 



Nearly all the illustrations were from the author's 

 own specimens. To Mr. Henry E. Bedford we are 

 indebted for the photographs, and to Miss Sylvia C. 

 Warren for her assistance in the color work and in the 

 pen and ink sketches. 



To Miss Emma L. Wagenseil we are under obliga- 

 tions for some of our specimens of mosses. 



Our thanks are also due to Mr. Edward B. Shallow, 

 Associate Superintendent of Schools in Greater New 

 York, for reading the manuscript, for helpful sugges- 

 tions, and kindly words of encouragement. 



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