92 ProceeiHngs of the Roynl Irish Academy. 



and Parvielia omphalodes Ach., have been used in Ireland for dyeing wool a 

 yellowisli-browii shade. 



In regard to more modem dyeing practice, it is stated by Mrs. A. Mackay, 

 in a pamphlet issued by the Scottish Home Industries Association, Limited, 

 Edinburgh, that a black lichen (crotal), which grows on rocks, is largely used 

 in the Highlands for producing a brown colour on wool. The wool is dyed 

 by merely boiling it with an equal weight of the lichen for 1-1| hour. 

 Another lichen is used for dyeing a terracotta red, the colour varying to 

 dark red-brown according to the amount of lichen used. 



It has been ascertained from the Donegal dyers that lichens are not very 

 plentiful, and, presumably, are therefore not used in that county ; but, on 

 the other hand, certain lichens are still used in parts of Connaught to dye 

 woollen materials a duU saffron or brown colour. The actual dyeing process 

 is similar to that employed in the Highlands, the wool being heated in 

 watei' to just below the boiling-point of the water with a sufficient amount 

 of the lichen to produce the desired tint. 



A specimen of a lichen used for dyeing at Maam Cross, Co. Galway, and a 

 sample of wool dyed with it, having been obtained, it was thought that an 

 attempt to isolate the tinctorial constituent of the lichen might be of some 

 interest. 



The lichen, which is known in that part of Co. Galway as Scraith 

 Cloeh, was very kindly identified by liliss' M. C. Knowles, of the 

 Botanical Department of the National Museum, as Parmelia scuratilis Ach. — 

 Parmelia saxatilis var. retiriiga Th. Fr. — Imhricaria retiniga D. C. — Imhri- 

 caria scutatilis Krbg. — Lichen saxatilis Linn. 



According to ifr. N. Colgan, m.r.la. (Proc. E. I. A., vol. xxxi, Clare 

 Island Survey, Part 4, page 14), the name Scraith Cloch is employed by the 

 country folk in the Cama district in Galway to designate anotlier lichen — 

 Ramalina scopulorum Ach. — which they use to dye wool a yellow colour. In 

 Clare Island, however, the name Scraith Cloeh is given to Parmelia saxatilis 

 Ach., and the Bximalina scopulorum Ach. is given another name — Feitog liath. 

 The colour gi\'en by Parmelia saxatilis Ach. is stated to be of a better quality 

 than that given by Ramalina scopulorum Ach., but both lichens are employed 

 to dye wool in the west of Ireland. 



Tills lichen — Ramalina scopulorum — occurs in considerable quantities in 

 Howth, as does also another lichen — Ramalina cuspidata Xyl. — which, 

 although morphologically identical with Ramalina scoprUorum, is classified 

 by botanists as a distinct species, since with caustic potash solution it is 

 stained differently from the Ramalina scopv.loi-um (Miss M. C. Jinowles, Sci, 

 Proe. E. Dub. Soc, vol. xiv (N.S.), Xo. 6, page 88). 



