20 



vicinity of New Haven within the past fifty years, and not a few 

 within the past decade. 



Fig. I. 

 Showy lady's slippers In a northern Michigan cedar swamp. 



It is not a mere matter of sentiment, this movement to protect 

 not only our wild flowers but all forms of wild life which are in 

 danger of extermination. And yet, sentiment we must have, for 

 by no other means can interest be created in the necessity of 

 taking the active measures which are essential if the desired 

 results are to be accomplished. The wild life of today represents 

 a heritage from the past. It is something which we of the present 

 generation are under obligation to preserve, if future generations 

 are to inherit in full measure their share in the great out-of-doors. 

 The wild flower protection movement does not aim to discourage 

 the picking of wild flowers of every description. It aims rather 

 to encourage an intelligent discrimination between the many 

 plants whose flowers can be picked freely, without endangering 

 their continued abundance in the wild, and the comparatively 

 few whose very existence, like that of the showy lady's slipper 

 and the Arcthusa, may be terminated by picking. 



