AUSTRALIAN AND SOUTH SEA ISLAND STICTACE^. 255 



[Nearly all the earlier collections of Lichens collected in these 

 provinces have been deposited in the Herbaria of the Royal Gardens 

 at Kew and in the British Museum in London, as well as in the 

 museums of Paris, Berlin and Vienna, so that the study of this 

 group of plants has to a very large extent been restricted to British 

 and Continental Lichenologists, and as many of these eminent 

 scientists, hke their Australasian co-w rkers, are so ovei-worked, 

 it has been possible to secure but very little assistance. 



It is well recognised that the value of any work dealing with 

 plants depends on the facihties afforded for a critical examination 

 of the types or authentic specimens ; and as so very few of the 

 original specimens are available to Australasian students, it can 

 be well understood that very few of our botanists have cared to 

 undertake the responsibihty of naming these lowly plants. 



In my searches for specimens of the Phanerogameas, or higher 

 plant-hfe, I have also made a considerable collection of Cryptogams, 

 including a fairly extensive collection of Lichens. 



To determine the systematic position of these plants, I found 

 it necessary to consult the available literature as well as herbaria 

 containing specimens. My first collection was determined by 

 Mr. F. M. Bailey, Colonial Botanist, of Queensland, and soon after- 

 wards I received some assistance from the authorities at the Royal 

 Herbarium of Kew (England), who forwarded my second collection 

 of these plants to Mr. O. V. Darbishire, of Owens College, Man- 

 chester, for determination. About this time Mr. Maiden, the 

 Government Botanist of New South Wales, acquired for the 

 Government of his State the very extensive and valuable collection 

 of Australasian Lichens brought together by the late Rev. F. R. M. 

 Wilson, and as no one was working at these plants Mr. Maiden 

 very kindly gave me free access to this collection. 



In the Rev. Mr. Wilson's collection there is a preponderance of 

 crustaceous forms, a large number of which have been determined 

 by European speciaUsts. The foliaceous and fruticolous forms, 

 however, although well represented in the collection, had not, 

 except in very few instances, been determined by European 

 specialists, and as a consequence, through not having access to 

 the original types of the earlier collections of the forms, the deter- 

 minations of Mr. Wilson were in several instances unreliable. 



As a large number of foliaceous forms were constantly being 

 forwarded to the National Herbarium for determination I found 

 it necessary to consult the earher named collections of these plants, 

 and being on a visit to England in 1905 I enjoyed the privilege of 

 examining a large number of specimens made in Australia and the 

 South Sea Islands in the early days, which are deposited in the 

 collections of the Natural History Branch of the British Museum 

 and at the Royal Herbarium of Kew, in England. 



As a result of such examination I have found it necessary to 

 make several changes in the names of a large number of our foli- 

 aceous forms or species of Lichens, and accordingly have ventured 

 to do so in the following pages, giving the species and name of 

 collector of the actual specimens examined. 



