LICHENS. 63 



vegetable kingdom there are few species which can 

 compete for interest and utility with the lichen known 

 as the Reindeer Moss, Cladonia rangiferina. It varies 

 much in size, being seldom taller than three or four 

 inches in Britain, but two or three times as long in 

 more northern climes. It is almost a cosmopolite, 

 but its geographical range in various parts of the 

 world is very irregular and limited. In Lapland it 

 covers vast tracts of country, growing to a height of 

 from six to twelve inches. The barren plains so 

 covered are the favourite and only pastures of the 

 reindeer during winter. The animals clear away the 

 snow by means of their horns, to browse on the 

 lichen. On the destruction of the forests by fire this 

 plant continues to grow, and then reaches its greatest 

 luxuriance. It would be impossible for the reindeer 

 to exist in these climates during the winter were it 

 not for this plant. The Laplanders are in the habit 

 of collecting it with rakes in the rainy season, when it 

 is flexible and readily separates from the ground 

 where it has grown. It is then laid up in heaps to 

 serve as fodder for the cows. Parry, in the " Narra- 

 tive of his Fourth Voyage," mentions his officers 

 collecting supplies of this lichen as provender for the 

 reindeer, which he employed in the capacity of horses. 

 He says that it required a great deal of picking to 

 separate it from the moss with which it usually grows. 

 The daily quantity of cleaned Reindeer Moss neces- 

 saiy for each animal on a journey, he estimates at 

 four pounds ; but, he remarks, it can easily remain 

 for five or six days without food. To prepare it as 

 fodder for cattle, in some northern countries, hot water 



