CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION. 



25 



feeding from the cones, J feared I was 

 mistaken. You see 1 had overlooked 

 the statement of the bird books that 

 later in the season the}- may be seen 

 picking up seeds from the ground. 



The problem was soon solved tor 

 they were very willing to be inspected, 

 letting one come within a foot or two 

 of them, when it was easy to see the 

 crossed bills. One hopped upon a 

 park seat with a man sitting upon the 

 other end, and all showed themselves 

 very companionable. At least two of 

 them have died and 1 fear it was a 

 case of "killed by kindness." They 

 ate greedily a mixture of fat and bird- 

 seed such as had furnished food all 

 winter for other birds but which may 

 have been too rich for them. 



On March 14 I saw an albino robin 

 in the same park. He had a big patch 

 of white on the breast and many 

 smaller patches on the back, these 

 showing more plainly when he flew. 

 He gave the impression of being about 

 half white. I have heard of a robin 

 with even more white, but this is the 

 most decided albino I have ever seen. 

 Caroline M. Hartwell. 



moss to grow in but instead of hav- 

 ing a very short root it was quite 

 long. This shows that it does not 

 absolutely need moss to grow in; any 

 kind ot rich earth seems to do. 

 Sincerely yours, 



Lilian Beatty. 



The Cup Lichens. 



Peekskill, N. Y. 

 To the Editor: 



The cup lichen is beautiful in color, 

 I think, with the pale pastel colors 

 blending into each other. 



It is of a species of rubbery sub- 

 stance and shaped like a tiny cup with 

 a long slender stem. This cup tends 

 to deepen as the plant grows larger 

 around. It usually grows in moss 

 of different kinds. These form a sort 

 of bed for the roots. The roots are 

 /'// the moss roots and when the lichen 

 commences to grow it is just like the 

 moss. It has no real roots, only a sort 

 of cup arrangement at the bottom. 

 Although the cup part is not open 

 to the bottom of the plant, the stem 

 below the cup is hollow and if one 

 pricked the bottom of the cup it would 

 make a continuous open tube from 

 one end of the plant to the other. 



One of the largest specimens that 

 I have seen grew r from a piece of wood 

 and had only a verv thin coating of 



The cup lichens, so well shown in 

 the photographs, are of special interest 

 as being among the most highly de- 

 veloped members of the group. So 

 far as I can judge it is the form known 

 to botanists as Cladonia pvxidata, 

 which is distinguished from other 

 Cladonias by having brown fruit 

 borne on the rim of a more or less 

 scaly or granular cup which is ashy- 

 green and of the form shown in the 

 pictures. Other well-known Cladonias 

 are the "reindeer moss" (Cladonia 

 rangiferina) an important food of the 

 reindeer, and various "coral lichens" 

 with brown, flesh-colored, or scarlet 

 fruit, and the "red cup-moss" which 

 differs from Cladonia pyxidata mainly 

 in having the fruit bright red. It is 

 of this that Mrs. Hemans wrote in 

 the following stanza : — 

 "Oh! green is the turf where my brothers 



play 

 Through the long bright hours of the 



summer clay; 

 They find the red cup-moss where they 



climb, 

 And they chase the bee o'er the scented 

 thyme." 



The Cladonias are a numerous com- 

 pany differing from one another often 

 a good deal in appearance but readily 

 distinguished from other lichens 

 though the peculiarities observed by 

 your correspondent ; that is to say 

 mainly as possessing an upright fruit- 

 bearing part which is always hollow 

 and usually arises from or is accom- 

 panied by horizontal somewhat leaf- 

 like parts which may be attached to 

 the ground or may grow out from the 

 sides of the upright parts like little 

 shelves or leaves. 



One of the strangest things about 

 lichens is that they are not so simple 

 as thev look. If we examine a very 

 thin slice of a leaf-like part under a 

 microscope magnifying one or two 

 hundred diameters, we find in the slice 



