60 SUMMARY Ml CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Lichens of New South Wales.* -Edwin Cheel has given a shorl 

 sketch of the lichen flora of the Siate. more particularly in bhe Sydney 

 district. Owing to the crumbling nature of the sandstone rocks, the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney is not rich in quantity, but a considerable 



number of species are represented. Many <>i' them arc cosmopolitan, 

 others arc peculiar to Australia. He enumerates the brilliantly coloured 

 Xanthoria parietina, Thelost-histts r/irysop/it/tahna, and Kunzea corifolia, 

 which grow on trees along the foreshores of the harbour. On the 

 ground of the Wanamatta Shale series he records Heterodea Muelleri, 

 Glathrina aggregate/,, and Oladonia difissia\ and on logs. Thysanothecium 

 hyalinum, which is peculiar to Australia. In the Blue Mountains he 

 enumerates several familar species, such as Rhizocarpon geographicum and 

 PelUgera polydactyla. 



Lichen Flora of the Erzgebirge.t — E. Bachmann continues his 

 held studies of Lichens. He gives a topographical and geological 

 account of the district he worked through — the mining district of 

 Saxony. The two principal types of rock are quartz-porphyry and 

 basalt. There are occasional outcrops of lime, but- these are grown over 

 by shrubs and trees which give a dense shade so that almost the onlv 

 rock lichen of that formation was Lecanora erysibe 



The woods of the district are even more uniform than the geological 

 formation, consisting near Altenburg of pine wood with very scanty 

 lichen growth. In districts where mountain ash and hazel grew he 

 found Arthonia radiata and Arthopyrenia puncUformis. 



On the Kahleberg the yellow species of Rhizocarpon were abundant, 

 and in addition Lecidia panther ina, L. xudetica, L. lygsea, and species of 

 < 'ladonia. Lists are given of lichens common to the district but absent 

 from the district of Bittersgrun previously worked through by the 

 author. 



A comparison is also made with the lichen flora of the island of 

 Bugen. He notes that the lichens of the Erzgebirge are practically the 

 same whether they grow on the tops or sides of the rocks, whilst on the 

 island the upper surfaces are either barren or covered with Lecanora 

 saxicola, Xanthoria lyclmea, and Candettaria vitellina. 



Bachmann was able to establish a difference between the lichens of 

 acid and basic rocks ; acid rocks containing 70 p.c. and more of oxide 

 of silica such as quartz and granite-porphyry ; and basic rocks, diabase 

 and basalt, not reaching 50 p.c. He found that Rhizocarpon geographi- 

 cum was the most frequent lichen of porphyry, while on basalt there 

 were only small scattered patches. Pertusaria corallina was common 

 on granite and on porphyry, but was not found on greenstone or basalt. 

 Pertusaria lactea f. cinerescens, Diploschistes scruposus and I>. bryophilus 

 alone- with Buellia leptocline prefer the basic substratum. Borphyry 

 and basalt are alike physically except for a difference in colour and 

 therefore in power of radiation, but the chief difference lies in the 

 chemical constitution. A list of 19H species is given with their habitats 

 and localities. 



* Brit. Assoc. New South Wales, 1914, pp. 457-8. 

 t Hedwigia, lv. (1914) pp. 157-82. 



