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Miss Cummings also issued a set of “New England Lichens.” Just 
when she began the distribution of this set, also unnumbered, is not known 
to the writer, but he finds in his herbarium specimens from these exsiccati 
collected in 1884. This indicates that she possessed a considerable knowl- 
edge of lichens at this time, and it appears that the surroundings of her New 
England home inspired an interest in mosses and lichens quite early. Born 
at Plymouth, New Hampshire, July, 1855, doubtless Miss Cummings was at 
work on these plants before or during her years as a student in the New 
Hampshire Normal School in her native village, previous to entering Welles- 
ley College in 1876. At least it is stated that she showed excellent ability in 
the determination of lower plants at this early date, and we are justified 
in the conclusion that there was an earlier period of preliminary study of 
these plants. 
The list of papers on lichenology, written by Miss Cummings and pub- 
lished in her own name contains only three titles, all published during the 
last five years of her life. The other papers given in the bibliography con- 
tain lists of lichens made by her and published in papers by other botanists, 
either from material which she had determined or examined, or as compila- 
tions from the work of Tuckerman, Willey and others. Whatever part she 
may have had in the making of these lists, the labor involved in their pre- 
paration was doubtless insignificant in comparison with that which must 
have been necessary in the preparation of exsiccati and “The Lichens of 
Alaska.” 
The labor involved in issuing “Decades of North American Lichens” 
and “ Lichenes Boreali-Americani,” together with the large amount of 
determining for others that Miss Cummings kept up for years in connection 
with this work, is surely her best contribution to lichenology, — a contribu- 
tion quietly performed and much of it entirely unknown, except to the per- 
sons for whom she must have spent many weary hours in determining their 
specimens. It is well known that the names of A. B. Seymour and T. A. Will- 
iams have appeared in the two sets of exsiccati, but these sets of lichens are 
after all very largely the work of Miss Cummings. In conjunction with Mr. 
Seymour, she began issuing the decades in 1892, and the sets reached three 
hundred and sixty numbers. The second edition, “ Lichenes Boreali- 
Americani,” began to appear in 1894, and the name of T. A. Williams was 
added as co-worker. This series of exsiccati reached two hundred and eighty 
numbers. Early in 1905, Miss Cummings began negotiations with the writer 
regarding taking the place of Mr. Williams in issuing the sets of exsiccati, 
but because of the long-continued illness of the originator of the sets, the 
work did not go forward. On account of these later plans, Miss Cummings’ 
only list of the two sets of exsiccati, arranged alphabetically by genera, has 
been in the hands of the writer since August, 1905. This list might be of 
some interest, but it is too long to include in the bibliography at the close of 
this paper. 
I am able to testify from personal experience to the great care which 
Miss Cummings exercised in the determining of lichens forher friends. Our 
