T 



ANTARCTIC PYRENOCARP LICHENS 



By I. Mackenzie Lamb, D.Sc. 

 (Plates I-IV; Text-figs. 1-4) 



INTRODUCTION 



HE number of species of Pyrenocarp lichens at present known to occur in the Antarctic is twenty, 

 the genera represented being Verrucaria, Thelidiim, Staiirothele, Microglae?ta, Dermatocarpon and 

 Mastodia. The genus Etidocarpon has also been recorded (see p. 26), but its occurrence is doubtful and 

 cannot at present be verified. Of these genera, Microglaena, Dermatocarpon and (technically) Staiiro- 

 thele^ had not been previously recorded from this region. The material upon which the present study is 

 based is mainly that collected by : {a) the Discovery Expeditions of 193 1-3, 1933-5, and 1935-7; (^) the 

 British Graham Land Expedition of 1934-7 ; ^^d (c) the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (during 

 the period 1944-6), with which I served in the capacity of Botanist. In addition, the material collected 

 by the following earlier expeditions has been revised and included in this paper: {a) James Clark 

 Ross's 'Erebus and Terror' Expedition of 1839-43 '> (^) the Belgian Expedition of 1897-9; ^tid (c) the 

 Swedish Expedition of 1901-3. 



In connexion with these studies, I should like to express my thanks to the authorities of the following 

 institutions : {a) the British Museum (Natural History), London, for a grant of money and special leave 

 whereby I was enabled to study the material in the Vainio collection at Turku, Finland ; {b) Turun 

 Yliopiston Kasvitieteellinen Laitos, Turku, for all facilities placed at my disposal during my study of 

 the material of the Belgian Expedition there in 1937 ; and (c) the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, 

 for the loan of some of the specimens collected by the Swedish Expedition. I am also grateful to my 

 colleagues of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, Major Andrew Taylor, Lieut. E. H. Back, 

 Lieut. D. James, and Capt. V. Russell, for assistance in the collection and observation of lichen 

 specimens during the sledging trips, and to my friend Dr Rolf Santesson of Uppsala for the benefit of 

 his help and advice on the ecological terminology of the marine species. 



HISTORICAL SURVEY OF LICHENOLOGICAL 

 WORK IN THE ANTARCTIC 



A good general account of botanical exploration in the antarctic regions has been published by 

 Skottsberg (1940). A brief survey of the lichenological field work done by the various expeditions is 

 appended here, and the map on p. 4 shows the localities in the Graham Land sector where lichen 

 collections have been made. 



The first recorded collection of lichens from south of 60° lat. is that of James Eights, who visited the 

 South Shetlands in 1830. His scientific work there has been reviewed by Caiman (1937). 



The ' Erebus and Terror' Expedition of James Clark Ross, which visited the Antarctic in the years 

 1839-43, was accompanied by the famous botanist J. D. Hooker. His antarctic collections were made 

 on Cockburn Island, a small island of basalt and agglomerate lying in the Erebus and Terror Gulf on 

 the east side of the Graham Land peninsula. A preliminary list of these lichens was published by 

 Hooker and Taylor (1844), and a more comprehensive enumeration of nine species, in Hooker's Flora 

 Afitarctica (1845-7). 



^ Already recorded under the old comprehensive generic name Verrucaria by Hooker (1845-7). 



