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TASMANIAN LICHENS. 



By Eev. F. E. M. Wilson. 



Part I. 



Tliere is no class of plants which ordinary people know or 

 notice so little as lichens. Yet this does not arise from their 

 rarity or the sparseness of their distribution, for they grow 

 almost everywhere on the globe, especially in the temperate 

 and polar zones ; and some species are very numerous. For 

 example, the " reindeer moss," as it is called, while it is found 

 in all cool climates, grows in the Arctic regions so profusely 

 that the individual specimens of it are said to greatly out- 

 number those of any other species of plant throughout the 

 world. The range af altitude and position also is very 

 extensive. Some species are found on Alpine heights where 

 no other vegetation exists ; and some grow on the seaside, 

 between high and low water. Some thrive on hard rocks 

 exposed to the noonday sun ; and some delight in the shade 

 of caves and forests. The substrata on which they grow are 

 various. Sandy earth, clay and loam, sandstone, granitic, 

 basaltic, and calcareous rocks, dead wood, the bark and leaves 

 of trees, messes, etc., even dried bones, leather, iron, and glass 

 afford them foothold. But they seem to absorb very Kttle 

 nutriment from any of these substrata ; and most of them 

 indeed live wholly on air and moisture. The two greai 

 enemies of lichen growth are lengthened droughts and 

 frequent bush fires. From the effects of the latter agency 

 many parts of Tasmania, especially in the eastern half of the 

 island, have been much denuded. It is possible that in the 

 wilder and moister west there may be fuller scope for the 

 adventurous lichenologist. There may be species found there 

 which do not grow in the eastern parts ; and the converse 

 will doubtless be found true. 



1. The Collection of Lichens is very simple. They are 

 removed by a sharp knife from the bark of trees, or with the 

 bark and a piece of the wood, or by a small cold chisel from 

 dead wood and rocks ; and they need merely to be wrapped 

 in soft paper— old newspapers will do — and carried home 

 with just sufl&cient care to prevent their being bruise 1 or 

 rubbed. Their preservation is also simple. Few of them 

 need any preparation if they are collected in a proper state, 

 neither wet nor too dry. They can he glued down, as they 

 are, on to a slip of paper, on which the date and place of 

 collection should be noted, with the name of the collector. 



