2 OTTO VERNON DARBISHIRE, (Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 



It must be borne in mind here that the good ship "Antarctic" was wrecked on 

 the tenth of February 1905. Rather she was crushed by ice just a month earlier 

 and finally sank on the tenth of February. A large portion of the plants collected 

 in the course of her cruise along the coast of Graham Land had to be abandoned, 

 when the ship sank. Dr. SKOTTSBERG was only able to take with him a small se- 

 lection of plants. It does not appear from the account of the disaster to the ship 

 how many lichens were lost, but the number is not likely to have been small, if we 

 judge by the descriptions of the islands off the coast visited by the Swedish ex- 

 pedition. (NoRDENSKjOLD, Ant. II, p. 311, Skottsberg in Ymer 1905, p. 410.) 



The naming of plants and especially lichens becomes an increasingly difficult 

 task with the publication of the results of every new Expedition. The described 

 lichens arc rapidly growing in number and though descriptions are on the whole 

 far better now than they were some years ago, it is often almost impossible to re- 

 cognize already described species of the smaller kind if not accompanied by really 

 good illustrations. There is not yet enough material to publish an Herbarium Ex- 

 siccatum. It is therefore with pleasure that I mention here that Dr. SKOTTSBERG 

 has given me permission to make up a small collection from his material, which 

 will I hope include most of the new species. This collection will soon find a per- 

 manent resting place in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (Eng- 

 land), where not a little of the work in connection with this report was carried out. 

 They can of course always be consulted there. 



I have tried to illustrate the new species by photographs taken with a Zeiss 

 Microplanar and the results are I consider satisfactory. For examining the material 

 I know no better dissecting microscope than Zeiss' Binocular Dissecting Microscope. 

 It would have been impossible to detect the small Verrucaria exquisita for example, 

 without such an instrument. 



The new species brought back by the Expedition. 



For the sake of convenience the descriptions of the new species are given to- 

 gether and before the whole of the species found are enumerated. There are, all 

 told, thirty three new species but I have no doubt that quite a number as yet not 

 noticed are still to be found. I cannot help however issuing a warning which I have 

 issued already once before against considering all the species newly described on an 

 occasion like this as infallibly new. No plants except perhaps some of the algae 

 and fungi are more difficult to determine from mere descriptions than lichens. It is 

 for this reason that I have left some plants undetermined. 



