1900] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 167 



BIOLOGFCAL NOTES. 



L. H. PAMMEL. 



Lichens of Minnesota and Lake Superior Region. — 

 In the current number of Minnesota Botanical Studies 

 (Part III) Professor Fink makes an interesting contribu- 

 tion to the knowledge of the lichens of Minnesota. The 

 area included by Prof. Fink's paper comprises something 

 like 5,000 square miles and the list furnishes many spe- 

 cies that are new to the state and to the interior of North 

 America. The author says in regard to the lichen distri- 

 bution of the Lusten and Grand Portage region: "The 

 great masses of ligneous and metamorphic rocks along the 

 Superior and inland shore lines, the same rocks back from 

 the shore lines and the coniferous and various other trees 

 together with diversity as to temperature, moisture and 

 elevation, all help to produce a flora richer in lichen spe- 

 cies than I had expected to find. Though the annual pre- 

 cipitation of moisture for the area is not large, yet the 

 comparatively impervious nature of the rocks causes the 

 water to collect in depressions of surface, forming a mul- 

 titude of lakes of various sizes whose moist borders are a 

 veritable paradise for lichens and especially for lithophy- 

 tic species. The dense forests also hold moisture and 

 favor lichen growth. When one finds single branches of 

 Usnea longissima Ach., five feet long, as we collected on 

 Grand Portage island, he realizes the significance of the 

 name. Here and in some other localities of the region 

 studied the dying conifers especially are literally cover- 

 ed with this plant, other species of the genus and Alec- 

 toria jubata (L.) Nyl:, all growing in a tangled profusion 

 which obscures the host and when wet with rain or dew 

 furnishes a view of surpassing beauty. Hardly less re- 

 markable is the growth of Cladonia rangiferina (L.) 

 Hoffm., in open woods near Mt. Josephine, single clusters 

 measuring three or four feet across and reaching a foot iu 



