86 Transactions. 



Art. V. — List of Lichens and Fungi collected in the Kermadec Islands 



in 1908. 



By W. R. B. Oliver. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 28th November, 1911.] 



Through the kindness of Mr. T. F. Cheesernan, F.L.S., who forwarded 

 the lichens and fungi which I collected on Sunday Island to the Director 

 of the Kew Botanical Gardens, and subsequently furnished me with the 

 names of the species represented, I am able to publish the following list. 

 The fungi were identified by Mr. George Massee, and the lichens by Mr. 

 A. D. Cotton. I know of no record of fungi from the Kermadecs, but in 

 the " Handbook of the New Zealand Flora " (1864-66) Sir J. D. Hooker 

 has recorded two lichens — Cladonia furcata and Lecidea intermixta — collected 

 by Mr. J. Milne, who visited the group in H.M.S. " Herald " in 1854. 

 Neither of these was collected by me. 



Lichens and the fungus Scorias spongiosa form a conspicuous feature 

 of the forest on Sunday Island — -not by the number of species represented, 

 which are few, but by the abundance of individuals. In the upper wet 

 forest almost every stem of palms and trees is covered with mosses and 

 lichens. Of the latter, those especially common are the foliaceous Sticta 

 variabilis and Leptogium cyanescens, and the crustaceous Baeomyces 

 pertenuis and Physcia speciosa. In exposed places, as on ridges and cliffs, 

 where more light penetrates and the wind is more desiccating in its 

 effect, the tree-stems support chiefly the foliaceous Sticta aurata and the 

 drooping Usnea barbata. On rocks along the sea-coast Xanthoria parietinia 

 and Physcia pulverulenta are frequent. All the upper branches and twigs 

 of the pohutukawa, especially in the lower dry forest, where they are the 

 dominant trees, are completely clothed with Scorias spongiosa, which 

 showers its black spores copiously on the forest below. 



Lichens. 

 Baeomyces pertenuis Stirb. 



Forest ; on stems of nikau-palms and trees. 



Cladonia capitella Bab. 



Forest ; among mosses on horizontal branches of trees. 



Cladonia Florkeana Fr. 

 On logs in open. 



Cladonia aggregata Eschw. 

 Forest ; on damp ground. 



Leptogium cyanescens Kbr. 



Forest ; on nikau-palm stems, in damp situations. Thallus soft and 

 moist, like an alga, and in dry weather shrivels at the edges. 



Sticta variabilis Ach. 



Forest ; abundant on tree-stems. 



