i- f- 



402 mi. LAUDER LIKDSAY ON THE 



80. L, hadio-afra, Flk. 



81. i. CEderii, Acb. 



4- 



*82. L. parasema^ Ach., var. latiij)ca^ Ach. (i. conioj^s^ Acli. 



pr. p.). 

 83. X. oocyspora^ Tul. 



84f. JSformandina Icetevirens^ Turn. & Borr. 



85. Endocar])07i rttfesccns^ Acli. 



86. -EJ. mifiiattcm, Ach., and var. eu])locum^ Ach. 



87. Verriicaria tej)hroides, Ach. 



88. V. jyp^eiiojjJiora, Acli. 



89. Tl majyacea, Whlub., and var. Jii/drch, Acii. 



90. FI umlrina, Whlub. 



Contrasting Iceland, Tiiro, and Xorway ^vith each other and 

 vritli Scotland, there are certain strikinjij diversities as regards 



their geological formation and physical configuration, as well as 

 the presence or ahselicc of arboreal vegetation, which demand at- 

 tention as bearing materially on the character of their respective 

 Lichen-floras. 



Iceland is composed of comparatively recent volcanic rochs, over- 

 lain or not by a sterile scanty soil, the result of their disintegra- 

 tion. In this respect it cannot fairly be compared with any nearer 

 southern country than the volcanic districts of France, Italy, and 

 Sicily. Eeylvjavik is seated in the midst of what is virtually a 

 stony desert, the soil being made up of fragments of all sizes of 

 dolerite, trachyte, and lava. The metropolitan district, indeed, is 

 stated by the natives to be the most barren in the island. Looked 

 at from any distance it has a brown or bhickish-browu colour, and 

 a bleak sterile aspect *. There is too little greensward or ph»- 

 nogamous vegetation to become a feature in the landscape. This 

 is the character of a great portion at least of the island,— the bare 

 lava, or the brown stony soil resulting from its partial disintegra- 

 tion, being generally less or more devoid of the higher vegetation. 

 There are occasional or exceptional oases in this brown desert, 

 e. g. around farm-houses, the banks of rivers, streams, and lakes, 

 in marsh-lands, and in the vicinity of hot and other springs. But 

 these exceptions scarcely affect the Lichen-flora of the country. 

 There is, however, a considerable variety of configuration in the 

 country ; and the mountains, many of which are covered with 

 perennial snoAvs feeding largo glaciers, reach a height of uearlv 

 6000 feet. There are, however, no forests, and almost no arboreal 



* C 



Flora of Iceland/ p. 24. 



