TORREYA 



May, 1914. 

 Vol. 14 No. 5 



A PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE LICHENS FOUND 



WITHIN A RADIUS OF 100 MILES OF 



NEW YORK CITY. 



By George C. Wood 



Some ten years ago the writer pursued the study of lichens 

 with a view to becoming familiar with those forms in the neigh- 

 borhood of New York City. A partial list was brought together 

 as a result of many excursions and presented to the New York 

 Botanical Garden as part of a work towards an advanced degree 

 in science. The list was lost for some years and but recently 

 found among the effects of Professor Lucien M. Underwood, then 

 in charge of advanced work at the garden. 



It was thought advisable to publish the list as a beginning of a 

 possible future complete survey of the district, particularly with 

 a view to its adding some forms to the Long Island biological 

 survey, which is being conducted under the auspices of the 

 Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. But the nomenclature 

 used in the completion of the list was that of Tuckerman. The 

 Engler and Prantl system has since partially superseded it and 

 it was thought best to arrange it so that it would meet the new 

 requirements.* 



* The following order follows largely the classification set forth by the I'Abbe 

 Hue, which is based upon thalline structure. This order does not differ great^ in 

 results from that adapted by Dr. Zahlbruckner in Engler and Prantl, except in a 

 few notable instances, though the latter's is developed upon phylogenetic prin- 

 ciples. That lichens are the result of a peculiar parasitic or saprophytic relation 

 between a fungal mycelium and an algal host seems a well established fact, but that 

 the lichen as a distinct organism has undergone a well marked evolutionary develop- 

 ment, is also very evident. Therefore to adopt a classification for them as they 

 are, and not because of their origin, is to me the logical course. We have as yet 

 no proof of the synthetic formation of lichens in nature. Lichens arise from 

 preexisting lichens and thus probably reproduce only by soredia and fragmenta- 

 tion. Protophytic characters are not necessarily to be employed if we wish to 

 adopt a natural classification. In rearranging the nomenclature I have had the 

 aid in several instances by Dr. H. E. Hasse. 



R. Heber Howe, Jr. 



[No. 4, Vol. 14, of TORREYA, comprising pp. 55-72, was issued 8 April, 1914.] 



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