Introduction. 



T, 



he material of Lichens brought back from Ellesmere-land and 

 King Oscar-Land and collected mainly by H. G. SIMMONS is very exten- 

 sive. I think I can safely state that it is by far the best collection of this 

 kind ever brought back from that part of the world. The collection has 

 been separated into 1250 paper bags and a number of loose specimens. 

 Some of the bags contain several portions of substratum, and these not 

 unfrequently carry quite a lot of specimens and species. Every Licheno- 

 logist knows how many plants may be found on a single stone. A 

 rough calculation would therefore place the number of lichens in this 

 collection at anything between 7,000 and 10,000. We should therefore 

 get a very complete idea of what the lichen-flora of the country visited 

 by the Norwegian Expedition is like. I will endeavour to give this be- 

 fore I pass on to the enumeration of the species themselves. I must 

 however before doing so express my thanks to the Council of the Uni- 

 versity of Manchester, which body gave me leave to pay for a substitute 

 for me during part of the Session 19061907, and to Prof. WEISS who 

 took over part of my work during that year. I was however not able 

 to make the full use of this period which I had hoped. My thanks are 

 also due to Miss N. SNAPE for kindly rendering assistance in the cutting 

 of sections. 



Judging from the material which has been placed at my disposal, 

 I can state that the fruticulose lichens play a very important part in the 

 vegetation of Ellesmere- and King Oscar-Land. The various species 

 of Cetraria evidently occur in great quantities and over large areas. 

 It is mentioned by TH. M. FRIES that the larger forms of lichens were 

 found in small quantities during the English Expedition 18751876. 

 He concludes from this that the smaller kinds preponderate. But I do 

 not think that this is really the case. 



