THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
65 
that this most interesting family has? As the summer 
went on nearly every week a new variety to us was found 
and carried home in great glee to have its name confirmed 
by the two older friends whose age prohibited the long 
tramps but whose interest in the finds was stimulating to 
the highest degree. 
Once a week we took a walk, starting in the morning, 
carrying our lunch with us and going wherever fancy 
carried us. Generally it was nightfall which brought us 
back but sometimes it must be confessed that the lunch 
did not hold out and hunger brought us back in time for 
supper. What good times we did have. Sometimes the 
entire day would be spent investigating what some little 
glen had for us. There was one dav when we feasted on 
wild black -caps— friends had to be shown the bushes to be 
convinced of their wildness— -and the never-to-be-forgotten 
juic3^ yellow plums that were just at the stage when they 
melted in one's mouth. I can almost taste the delicious 
flavor now. Another day came the unexpected sight of a 
great blue heron and its beautiful pure-white young birds 
and we will surely not forget killing three copperhead 
snakes where we had just eaten our dinner. C — had just 
dipped his head in the branch when a minute after the first 
copperhead appeared from under a rock at the very spot, 
as if to see what had been disturbing his quiet. In fact, 
each day had some little adventure to distinguish it, to 
say nothing of the ''treasures" which w^ere found every 
w^eek. In the line of mushrooms alone two hundred and 
seven varieties were identified during the season and we 
have often wondered if this is an unusual experience. Of 
the orchids found last summer the Tipularia w^as much the 
most abundant. Gray writes this down " very scarce,'^ 
but we found it in every direction and decided that it must 
have changed its habits or that it was simply local. Usual- 
ly the Aplectrum with its Adam-and-Eve corms was found 
nearby. When the solitary leaf, which these two orchids 
produce each year after blooming, appeared we were 
always bothered to remember which was which. The 
