268 



FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 



\Lichenes, 



whose treatise the Byssacece are excluded ; at the same time, it is a very inferior production to the ' Liche- 

 nographia Europsea/ A general work on Lichens is most urgently required, and there is some reason to 

 believe that an able hand is now engaged upon the task. 



The sporidia of Lichens have of late occupied the attention of several distinguished botanists, both at 

 home and abroad, and their researches seem in many cases to have produced good fruit ; the different forms 

 of these microscopic organs sometimes serving to distinguish allied species. In this department the names 

 of Eschweiler, Montagne, Pee, Flotow, De Notaris, Leighton, Massalongo, and Nylander are to be men- 

 tioned with special commendation. I shall perhaps incur some reproach for not having dwelt more upon 

 these microscopical characters in the remarks than I have done, although it will be seen that they are not 

 neglected in the figures, and that they are also occasionally alluded to in my remarks and descriptions. It 

 is perhaps presumptuous to offer an opinion on a subject with which I am not so familiar as the above- 

 named authors are ; but it appears clear that the employment of microscopic characters must be very cau- 

 tiously introduced : it is certain that the forms of these organs vary considerably in the same species, even 

 in the same specimen, as any one may convince himself by a little experience, or even by examining our 

 plates ; and I must own that I scarcely think that the examinations at present made are sufficiently exten- 

 sive to enable a very accurate judgment to be formed as to how far supposed distinctions of this kind can 

 be advantageously employed. 



The arrangement here followed is substantially that of Pries. The latest classification of the Euro- 

 pean Lichens (in outline) is by Dr. Nylander, in the second volume of the ' Memoires de la Societe des 

 Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg' (1854) : he makes a larger number of subdivisions and genera than 

 appears necessary or advisable ; but there can be no question about the ability with which the work is 

 drawn up. Unfortunately both this and other tracts have come to hand since the following account was 

 written, so that less use is made of them than probably might otherwise have been desirable. 



The remarks on the geographical distribution have very frequently been based upon an inspection of 

 specimens in Sir W. J. Hooker's herbarium and my own ; but I have also constantly made use of the works 

 of Eries and Tuckermann for Europe and North America ; those of Montagne for the South Polar regions, 

 Juan Eernandez, Guiana, Cuba, the Canaries, and the East Indies ; and Eschweiler 1 s labours in Martius' 

 ' Elora of Brazil ;' also of certain papers on Abyssinian, New Holland, and Cape of Good Hope species, in 

 the 'Linnsea,' by Laurer and Elotow. — C. B. 



Suborder I. GYMNOCAEPI. 



Tribe I. PABMELIACBM. 



Gen. I. USNEA, Ach. et Auctt. 



1. Usnea harbata, Eries, licit. Urn: p. 18. Usnea florida, U. hirta, U. plicata, U. cornicularia, U. 

 ceratina, U. barbata, Ach. Syn. Lich.pp. 302-807. 



Hab. Abundant everywhere throughout all the Islands, and very variable. 



The above Acharian species, all of which occur in New Zealand, do not appear to be even so much as well- 

 marked varieties; II. gracilis, Ach., II. Jamaicensis, Ach., and U.Jilaris, Ach., are added as synonyms by Fries (the 

 two former by Eschweiler also, in Mart. Fl. Brasil. p. 226), and II. trichodea, Ach., by Florke, probably with great 

 justice. II. cornicularia, described from New Zealand specimens of Forster, by Acharius, is, I presume, the same 

 plant which Mr. Colenso has gathered, but I have no authentic specimen. The description in the ' Lichenographia 

 Universalis' suits exceedingly well; the habit is that of Evernia ochroleuca, d crinalis, but it seems without doubt 



