LOOKING OVER THE FIELDS 



19 



and in course of time she adds a thick 

 coat of green-cup [Cladonia fimbriata or 

 pyxidtaf] and bright coxcomb lichens, 

 and it becomes an object of new in- 

 terest to the lover of nature!" 



Occasionally he indicates an obser- 

 vation of an allied species, which we 

 would attempt in vain to name cor- 

 rectly in this generation of hair-split- 

 ting taxonomies. But that he knew 

 the Reindeer "moss" is evidenced by 

 three entries, only one of which I will 

 here set down. "It is a little affecting 

 to walk over the hills now, looking at 

 the reindeer lichens here and there 

 amid the snow, and remember that ere 

 long we shall find violets also in their 

 midst." Thoreau did not err with the 

 common lot — they were reindeer lich- 

 ens to him, not reindeer mosses. 



I find only two entries that refer 10 

 the great foliose Parmelias, and there, 

 so far I am able to judge, all to one 

 species, Parmelia caperata (L.) Ach. 

 He perhaps used this large common 

 species as the representative of many 

 similar forms, recognized by his eye as 

 distinct, but hardly important enough 

 for a Journal's noting. Of these he 

 writes: "There is a low mist in the 

 woods. It is a good dav to study 

 lichens. The view is so confined, it 

 compels your attention to near objects, 

 and the white background reveals the 

 disks of the lichens distinctly. They 

 appear more loose, flowing, expanded, 

 flattened out. the colors brighter for 

 the damp. The round, greenish-yellow 

 lichens on the white pines loom 

 through the mist (or are seen dimly) 

 like shields whose devices you would 

 fain read." 



Of the other foliose genera he men- 

 tions two of the most prominent : 

 Sticta and Umbilicaria. His observation 

 of the Sticta pulmonaria (L.) Ach. is 

 interestingly interrogative as is shown 

 by the following quotation. Though 

 the plant is not confined to the oaks, 

 being equally fond of yellow birch 

 boles, yet I believe it always shuns the 

 conifers. "It is a lichen day, with a 

 little moist snow falling. The great 

 green lungwortlichen show now- on the 

 oaks (strange that there should be 

 none on the pines close by), and the 



fresh, bright chestnut fruit of other 

 kinds [i. e., Sticta amplissima (Scop.) 

 Mass], glistening with moisture, brings 

 life and immortality to light." 



In one of his Journal entries of the 

 other foliose genus, Umbilicaria, Tho- 

 reau mentions for the second time 

 accurately a lichen species — referring 

 to one of the earliest of Tuckerman's 

 works as his source of information. 

 Here the economic side of the study 

 seems to have interested him to such 

 a degree that he actualh- made himself 

 an arctic beverage. "Boiled a handful 

 of rock tripe (Umbilicaria M allien- 

 bergii) (which Tuckerman says "was 

 the favorite rock tripe in Franklin's 

 journey") for more than an hour. It 

 produced a black puff, looking some- 

 what like boiled tea-leaves, and was 

 insipid, like rice or starch. The dark 

 water in which it was boiled had a bit- 

 ter taste, and was slightly gelatinous. 

 The puff was not positively disagree- 

 able to the palate." Faint praises, in- 

 deed, for the favorite of Umbilicarimi 

 nectars. 



Thoreau's knowledge of the crustose 

 lichens would naturally be the least 

 extensive owing to their minute char- 

 acter, their less conspicuous coloring, 

 and their general unattractiveness. 

 Though here, except for spelling, he 

 gives the correct Latin name to the 

 most attractive of crustose forms. 

 "The bank is tinged with a most deli- 

 cate pink or bright flesh color where 

 the beomyces rosaceus [Bocmyces roseus 

 (L.) Pers.] grows." Again he writes 

 of the same lichen: "Further still, . . . 

 as I was showing to T.fappau] under 

 a bank the single flesh-colored or pink 

 apothecium of a Beomyces which was 

 not covered by snow, I saw the print 

 of C.'s foot by its side, and knew that 

 his eyes had rested on it that afternoon. 

 It was about the size of a pin's head. 

 Saw also where he had examined the 

 lichens on the rails." . . . This last 

 sounds the true naturalist — though it 

 sounds also like a Cooper allegory. 



Another mention of a probable 

 crustose form is found where he says: 

 "The very debris of the cliffs . . . are 

 covered with geographic lichens. No 

 surface is permitted to be bare long. 



