NliW PUBLICATIONS. 347 



specific appellation? Of variety rsl/iiobola, \Nh\uh., of Verrucaria m.nr- 

 gacea, Wlilub. (p. 416), " It is often difficult to separate this variety 

 from the type." Tlien why make an arbitrary division ? LeciJea sub- 

 nigrata, Nyl. (p. 316), " vix separanda a L. deni.fjrota,''' says Nylander 

 himself, who nevertheless creates the separate species. Lecidea circaiii- 

 pullens, Nyl. is "vix nisi varietas L. bacciUifcr/B''' (p. 336). L. spo- 

 dodes, Nyl. (p. 261), is "closely allied to L. deulgrata, Fr., and proljably 

 a subspecies, though externally distinct." L. houinlolropa, Nyl. (p. 337) 

 is " near to L. urceolatn, Ach. Doubtful if not bolh referable to Melas- 

 pUeay Var. Jlavens, Nyl. of L. parasema, Ach. (p. 270), " Latet sub 

 elodochroma, Ach. (ex lib. Ach.) a quti etiam parum diversa." Then wliy 

 cumber an already complex Lichen-flora with unnecessary names and 

 species? What necessity is there for, or what advantage in, naming and 

 giving separate rank to such forms, conditions, or states, of species as 

 var. terrestrls, Nyl. of Lecanora varia, or form cinerascens, Nyl., of L. 

 badia ? This is a kind and degree of elaboration that is simply mis- 

 chievous. It would seem, moreover, that, in not a few cases, species are 

 based on a single imperfect specimen. This is the case apparently, for 

 instance, with Pertmaria sublactea, Leight. (p. 24.5), of which it is noted 

 that the spores are " unknown :" nor were they " seen " in the case of 

 P.faginea, L. (p. 242). 



In describing the " extensive portions of our country still unexplored 

 as to Lichens," Mr. Leighton is in error in including " The whole of the 

 north and north-western counties of Scotland, including the Hebrides, Ork- 

 ney, and Shetland Isles." For so long ago as 1841, the Hebrides were 

 botanically " explored " by Professors Balfour, of Edinburgh, and Babing- 

 ton, of Cambridge, whose " Catalogue of the plants gathered in the islands 

 of North Uist, Harris and Lewis," — including Lichens, — appeared in the 

 'Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh,' in 1844 ; while, 

 so lately as 1866 and 1869, the Lichen-flora of Caithness, Sutherland and 

 Inverness-shires, of Orkney, Sliethmd, and the Hebrides was the subject of 

 special investigation by Dr. Lindsay. Large collections were made, and a 

 list of some of the commoner species has already been published. Indeed 

 in Mr. Leighton's own work he gives a number of localities in 'Lewis' 

 (the Hebrides), 'Orkney'; 'Hebrides'; ' Coygach, Sutherlandshire ' ; 

 'northern parts of Scotland'; 'Long Island' (= the Lews or Lewis, 

 Hebrides) ; ' Inchnadanf, Sutherland' ; ' Glen Ach-na-Sliilloch, Ross-shire' ; 

 ' Loch Carron' (Ross-shire) ; ' Orkney Islaiuls' ; ' Brough Head in island 

 of Stronsa, Orkneys' ; and ' Lerwick, in Shetland.' There can be no doubt, 

 however, that for those Lichenists, whose ambition is to collect specimens, 

 in the hope of Nylander, or other Continental nomenclator, discovering 

 novelties or rarities among tiieir gatherings, there is still ample scope 

 in the British islands, even in the districts that have been the most fre- 

 quently and thorouglily " explored." But collectors are so much more 

 numerous than biologists that we would counsel the student, instead of 

 hunting for " new species," to devote his attention to those that have 

 been already discovered, making himself master, not only of their na,ines 

 and their specific duignoscs, but of all their characters, including their 

 various uses. Such has been the activity of collectors and name-givers of 

 late years, even since the issue of Crombie's 'Emimeratio' last year, that 

 we can well afford to pause in our efforts to add to the number of the 

 British Lichens, and cultivate a more thorough accjuaintauce with the pre- 

 sent, only too numerous, meuibcrs of our Lichcn-llura. 



