84 THE VICTORIAN XAT0RALIST. 



In the naming of these I have received much assistance from 

 Dr, Knight, of New Zealand, a well-known lichenologist. I have 

 also examined Australian and exotic specimens in the Botanical 

 Museum, and I have consulted Nylander's " Synopsis " and the 

 last edition of Leighton's " Lichen Flora," as well as Tucker- 

 man's " Genera Lichenum," which Baron Von Mueller kindly 

 lent me. I have further gratefully to acknowledge assistance in 

 various ways from Miss F. M. Campbell, who is an indefatigable 

 collector of lichens as well as of other plants, and also the kind- 

 ness of Mr. French in furnishing me with a list of Australian, 

 lichens in the Museum, and in furthering my researches among 

 them. I cannot help expressing my sense of the courtesy of all 

 the officials connected with the Botanical Museum. 



The specimens exhibited are pretty fairly representative of the 

 various classes of lichens. Some of them, e.^., Calicia, are truly 

 microscopical, being scarcely visible to the unaided and 

 uneducated eye ; while of others, eg., Stictei, one plant will 

 cover more than a square yard of rock ; and some, Usnese, will 

 hang from tall trees to the length of 6oft. Some, e.g., of the 

 Collemata, are comparatively short-lived, dying in a few months > 

 while others, such as Parmeliae, attain an unknown age, and are 

 supposed to be hundreds of years old, scarcely altering in size or 

 appearance during a quarter of a century. 



A few of the specimens exhibited were gathered from marine 

 rocks under high water mark, others from the summits of lofty 

 mountains, some from the surface of barren rocks, exposed to the 

 full heat of the sun, and others from the trunks of trees in the 

 dense shade of deep, dank gullies. Some lichens I have gathered 

 from well-bealen footpaths, and many from rotten logs ; some on 

 mosses, on jungermannias, on ferns, on other lichens, on the 

 growing leaves and on the fallen involucres of phanerogamous 

 plants, on the bark of trees and bushes, on rails and dead wood ; 

 even on leather, on iron, and on the dried bones of animals. I 

 have collected them from the slate roofs of houses, from the 

 street gutter near my own door in Kew, and from almost every 

 conceivable situation, except the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Melbourne, for, like true children of nature, they are impatient 

 of the emoke and other impurities of city life. Another 

 characteristic of theirs, unfortunately, is that, where a bush fire 

 has ravaged, it is years before any except the hardier and quicker 

 growing kinds are to be found. Many never return. This 

 peculiarity often leads to disappointment in exploiing new fields. 



It is just three years since I began the study of lichenology. 

 An old friend and fellow-student whom I visited in Scotland 

 recommended me to turn my attention to the lichens of 

 Victoria, which, he said, had not yet been explored. My state 



