LICHENS. 29 



This process, though seemingly tedious, is one which can be 

 confidently recommended, as ensuring success, if followed with 

 ordinary care. 



The next Paper wdll detail the means by which Foraminifera 

 are obtained when embedded in mud, clay, etc. 



Charles Elcock. 

 Belfast 



A Paper read before the Stroud Natural History and 

 Philosophical Society, by the Rev. H. P. Reader. 



THOUGH the study of the flowering plants, at least in a 

 superficial way, is very general in these days, it is still a 

 fact that the investigation of the Natural Orders of what 

 are known as flowerless plants, or Cryptogams, is by no means 

 popular. This is sufiEiciently to be accounted for by the difficul- 

 ties which the Cryptogamic Orders undoubtedly present, by the 

 comparative absence of introductory or popular literature on the 

 subject, and not a Httle, perhaps, by the absolute necessity of 

 careful microscopic work in this department of botany, which 

 renders it formidable to many, and out of the reach of some. 

 This being the case, those who are already familiar scientifically 

 with the Lichens will pardon me if I premise my remarks on the 

 Lichen-Flora of our neighbourhood, by an explanation of these 

 plants for the benefit of a possible majority who are not so 

 familiar with them. 



Lichens, then, form a Natural Order of flowerless plants, 

 composed of cellular tissue alone, and are generally considered to 

 hold an intermediate place between the Algae (or Order to which 

 the Seaweeds belong) and the Fungi — approaching the former 

 chiefly by the Gelatinous Lichens, and having the closest affinity 

 with those Fungi of which the spores are enclosed in cases. 

 Those Lichens which are most familiar to the eye, clothing espe- 

 cially the trunks and boughs of trees, appear to consist prin- 

 cipally of what may be termed a membranous expanse of a 

 hoary-grey, yellowish, or greenish colour, variously lobed and 



