LORQUINIA 
37 
and P. macrophyllum (Engelm.) Cockerell. The first is parasitic 
chiefly on oaks of various species, and the second on sycamores and 
various soft wood trees. It gets its generic name from the Greek, the 
two words meaning hterahy "tree thief." 
We also have some very ornamental and decorative ferns, chief 
of which are the wood or shield fern (Dryopteris rigida arguta Un- 
derw.j, found on all our shady hillsides below 3500 feet altitude; 
the so-called "sword fern" (Polystichnm munitum (Karlf. Underw.), 
found mostly above that altitude, and the large and handsome Wood- 
wardia (Woodwardia spinulosa Mart. & Gale.), which brings its large 
clumps to their highest perfection in the moist canyon bottoms. 
Among the Pine familv perhaps the two offering the most at- 
tractive Christmas decorations are the Big-cone Spruce (Pseudo-tsuga 
macrocarpa (Torr.) Mayr.), and the large, flat sprays of the Incense 
Cedar (Lihocednis decurrens Torr.). These are both found in our 
near mountain ranges, mostly above 2000 feet. 
Gko. L. Moxlky. 
WHY DID I JOIN THE LORQUIN NATURAL HISTORY 
CLUB? 
When the Lorqum Natural History Club was brought to my at- 
tention, I attended a meeting, impelled by sheer curiosity. I left feel- 
ing more than pleased. The program w^as excellent — instructive with- 
out the bone dryness often met in scientific lectures, v/hich intended to 
be technically accurate, are filled with a vocabulary unintelligible to 
the layman. Subsequent experience, before and after joining, has left 
this first impression unaltered. 
• After the meeting I met some of the members and was surprised 
to find men and women, young and old, interested in every branch of 
science, mingling to exchange ideas and experiences, thus broadening 
their conceptions of their own studies, at the same time learning that 
the worth-while existed m other lines of research. Humanity uncon- 
sciously follows ' the path of least resistance, and scientists m.ore than 
any other class are prone to wear a rut and slip along in it. These 
varied lectures and the informal discussions (]o much to broaden those 
who will take advantage of their opportunities. 
Hardly second to these was the hea'rty welcome extended by all, 
and the wholesome desire to make the newcomer feel at home even 
though he be a stranger within the gates. All too many of our scien- 
tific workers become case hardened in their unflagging search for truth, 
and leave the humanities to care for themselves. It is a tendency 
handed down as a heritage by those zealous pioneers who sought for 
