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cated above, are related to the form of the organism, is very 

 obscure. — Francis E. Lloyd. 



CORRESPONDENCE 

 Editor of Torreya. 



Dear Sir: The attention of the Natural Science Committee of 

 the Associate Alumnae of the Normal College has been called 

 to the article which appeared in the August number of Torreya, 

 entitled "Vanishing Wild Flowers." In that article the work of 

 the Committee is spoken of at considerable length, and inasmuch 

 as it is mentioned in such reprehensible company that the mere 

 statements without explanation might lead the reader to mis- 

 taken conclusions, the Committee respectfully requests that you 

 will kindly publish the following in your next issue : 



Could the school children have the opportunity " to learn to 

 know the flowers by name and enjoy them" as the writer of 

 '' Vanishing Wild Flowers " suggests, there would be no need of 

 our work at all. Unfortunately, the facts are that thousands of 

 children never have that opportunity as the following statistics 

 prove. Out of a class of fifty-five only one knew the clover; 

 of a class of thirty-four three did not know the daisy, twelve the 

 dandelion ; of another class seven did not know the buttercup, 

 and of a class of thirty -five not one knew a violet. From data 

 carefully collected we found that forty per cent, of one entire 

 school had never been to the country and twenty-five per cent. 

 had never even visited Central Park. It is for these unfortunates 

 that we hold our flower shows. 



The commonest flowers are wonderful to them and we make 

 special efforts to get these in quantity and also the flowers men- 

 tioned in the poems studied in school. It was for the latter 

 reason that we were anxious to obtain the fringed gentians. We 

 would like to state that those mentioned in the article in ques- 

 tion were collected in the course of a long drive, were carefully 

 cut, and only a few were taken from each locality. 



Likewise, the pitcher plants referred to were gathered from a 

 deserted cranberry bog at Plymouth, Mass., where the supply 



