218 



HARDWiCKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



the way must be boldly faced. If the student can 

 only muster up sufficient courage to cross the 

 threshold, and prosecute his investigations with 

 zeal and steady perseverance, he will find in this, 

 as in other cases, that the difficulties which looked 

 so formidable at a distance, will, cue by one, be 

 successfully surmounted. 



But to whatever cause the paucity of lichcuists, 

 both in our own and other countries, is to be 

 attributed, it certainly does not originate in any 

 difficulty connected with their collection and preser- 

 vation. In fact, there is no other class of plants, 

 where these, and more especially the latter, can be 

 so easily effected, at a little expenditure of time and 

 trouble. A few simple directions are, therefore, all 

 that are necessary to be given on these points. As 

 to the collecting of lichens, it has already been 

 intimated that they are almost universally distri- 

 buted, though of course in this respect subject to 

 the same laws as the higher orders of vegetation. 

 In our own country we have now a list of about 

 800 species, constituting by far the greater pro- 

 portion of the Lichen Flora of Europe. In most 

 parts of Great Britain and Ireland, a very fair 

 number of these may readily be gathered, capable, 

 as they are, of existing in almost every situation 

 where they can derive requisite nourishment from 

 the atmosphere. On the rocks and boulders of the 

 seashore and the mountain-side, on the trunks and 

 branches of trees in woods and forests, on peaty 

 soil of bare moorlands, and on stone fences in up- 

 land tracts, nay, even on old pales and walls in 

 suburban districts, a goodly harvest may generally 

 be reaped. Few localities indeed there are, within 

 the area of these islands (London and its environs, 

 where the atmosphere is so impregnated with 

 smoke, being the. chief exception), in which the 

 Hellenist will find his occupation gone. True, it is 

 only in some more favoured tracts, chiefly maritime 

 and montane, that he can expect to meet with many 

 of our rarer species ; but even in most lowland 

 districts, especially such as arc well wooded, he 

 may, with profit, pursue his researches, and collect 

 various of the more common species. These will 

 just be as useful in making him acquainted with the 

 structure and physiology of lichens as though he 

 had gathered the rarest that grow on Ben Lawers 

 or by Killarney's lake. The apparatus requisite for 

 collecting is neither complicated nor expensive. 



A tin japanned vaseulum, or what is perhaps 

 better still, a black leather haversack, of larger or 

 smaller dimensions as the case may be, suspended 

 over the shoulder by a strap, is of course indispen- 

 sable for holding the specimens gathered. The 

 latter of these we have found to be more generally 

 convenient, as we can take it with us also for a 

 short ramble, without its attracting so much atten- 

 tion from curious rustics, as the less-known and 

 more singular-looking vaseulum. Two sets of in- 



struments are also necessary for removing the plant 

 from the substratum on which it grows, as well as 

 for breaking off in many cases a thin portion of the 

 latter along therewith. These are a geologist's 

 hammer and chisel for such as grow on rocks, 

 boulders, and stones ; a gardener's pruning-knife 

 for such as grow on trees, pales, and the ground ; 

 as also an ordinary table-knife for detaching, by 

 insertion under them, such foliaceous species as can 

 thus be separated from the substratum. To these 

 must be added several sheets of soft and moderately 

 thick paper, cut into ditferent' sizes (some news- 

 papers suit remarkably well), in which to wrap up 

 the individual specimens and prevent them rubbing 

 against each other ; a few card-boxes also, of various 

 sizes, in which for greater safety to place any of the 

 more brittle species, or fragments of the rarer ones, 

 by themselves ; and a pocket lens of good magnify- 

 ing power, by which we may be able to detect on 

 the spot those minuter species which the naked eye 

 can with difficulty distinguish. With these the 

 lichenist is fully equipped for an excursion, whether 

 " near at hand or far away," and, with waterproof 

 and umbrella, is ready to take the field even in 

 threatening weather. A good deal of discrimination 

 must be used in the selection of specimens for 

 removal, which, in all cases where such can be 

 obtained, ought to be fertile, with both apothecia 

 and spermogones fully developed. Hence, such as 

 are too old or too young, may be passed by, as 

 neither the spores nor spermatia, by which alone, 

 in many instances, they can be determined, will be 

 found in a normal condition, any more than the 

 thallus itself. The specimens gathered ought in 

 every case to be of sufficient size to show distinctly 

 the character of the thallus and of the fructifica- 

 tion. Where, however, the thallus, as it frequently 

 does, spreads very extensively over the substratum, 

 it will be sufficient to break off such a portion from 

 the circumference towards the centre, as will give 

 an adequate idea of the more important character- 

 istics of the plant. This is a point of considerable 

 consequence ; for should a portion be taken off from 

 the circumference alone, or from the centre alone, 

 it will often be entirely unsuitable for showing the 

 real nature of the plant, and be quite useless for 

 purposes of description. A little experience, how- 

 ever, will serve to prevent the commission of a 

 mistake, into which, judging from the number of 

 imperfect specimens which ar.e sent me to be 

 named, beginners are very apt to fall. Practice will 

 also in time enable the tyro to use the hammer and 

 chisel in such a way as to obtain neat specimens of 

 saxicole species — a matter of importance with re- 

 spect to their subsequent mounting. As to the 

 best season for collecting, I need scarcely remind 

 the reader that lichens arc perennial plants, re- 

 markable for their longevity, and that during the 

 whole year round they may be found in fruit. The 



