IC 



There is every probability of my being able to supplement what is now- 

 given, as Mr Buchanan is diligently prosecuting his researches towards 

 the intei-ior of the country, where the chances of success are greater, and 

 where, too, disturbing causes are less at work. 



Towards their determination and identification, I have had access to 

 various works, and, of these, Nylander's Synopsis has proved most useful, 

 so far as it goes; but as the literature of the subject is scattered and im- 

 perfect, I have been thrown pretty much, on my own resourses, aided, of 

 course, by an herbarium, which, although not very extensive, is yet ade- 

 quate enough to enable me to arrive at tolerably definite conclusions, at 

 least on the crustaceous lichens. It ought to be stated, also, that two or 

 three of the most characteristic species are in small quantity, as they 

 have, in fact, been detected on barks, &c., containing other lichens, for 

 which they were more immediately sent, and, as a consequence, are con- 

 fined to a few apothecia. 



The botany of Australasia has peculiar attractions for a student in the 

 northern hemisphere, inasmuch as it may be said to belong to a preced- 

 ing geological epoch ; and it is curious to notice, that while the phanero- 

 gamic part of it diverges widely from that of countries in a corresponding 

 northern European latitude, its cryptogamic part shows closer analogies,, 

 and the more so as we approach the lichens, whose powers of resisting 

 atmospheric changes and conditions are becoming a subject of closer 

 studj^, in proportion as our knowledge of their structure and internal 

 organization advances. If we are ever to arri\^e at anything like a 

 general comprehension of the spread and distribution of vegetation over 

 the STirface of the earth, I have little doubt that a thorough appreciation 

 of climacteric changes on the lower organisms will serve to indicate the 

 movements of the larger waves, so to speak ; and as these are the first 

 to reveal themselves, I hold that this part of the scale ought to have more 

 attention paid to it than has hitherto been the case. 



The present attempt will have served its purpose, if it merely pro- 

 vokes discussion of this difficult, yet interesting, section of Botany. 



It will be seen that no specified order of classification has been 

 followed ; it is merely that of detection and discrimination. 



Lecidea campylospora (Sp. Nova).— Thallus, in one specimen, white 

 or greyish white, thin, continuous, almost papery (K — C — ) ; ia 

 another, of a darker dingier colour, rimulose areolate, areolae flat or 

 convex, and somewhat granulate. Apothecia elevato-sessile ; concave 

 and contracted, in a young state, afterwards expanded and flat, or even 

 somewhat convex ; caesio-pruinose, boi-der thick, rounded and inflexed. 



