288 DR. LlNDSAr ON THE LICSEN-FLOHA OP GREENLAND. 



rocky banks of the Nile in Egypt and Nubia, says they were 

 " without a particle of vegetation"* (p. 173). This does not 

 expressly exclude Lichens, as the term " vegetation " is in such 

 cases used in reference to phaenogamic vegetation only. But 

 elsewhere, in the same narrative, he specially excludes even 

 Lichens, e.g., where he describes " precipices and cliffs without 

 " the least particle of vegetation, or even a Lichen on the surface" 

 (p. 129) . . . ^' ihay ]i'a>yQ not even a single Lichen'' {j^. 134) 

 — as if Lichens were an inferior growth to vegetation ! 



All such pictures are imaginative or poetical; they are not 

 scientific — not the assertion of naturalists with specially trained, 

 all-observant eyes. They contradict the observations both of 

 geologists and botanists, e.g., Sir Charles Lyell's observations on 

 the vegetation of the young lavas of Vesuvius and Etna, and my 

 own on that of the older lavas of Iceland.f All observation and 

 inquiry lead me to conclude that in no part of the world are rocks 

 of any age — that is, of more, than a few months old — absolutely 

 devoid of lichenose vegetation. I have made careful observations 

 on the rapidity of Lichen-growth and development, and have 

 shown elsewhere % that a very few months or years, in different 

 localities, suffice for the appearance on fresh surfaces, whether of 

 rock or wood, of a luxuriant lichenose vegetation. § Beaumont 

 therefore sings, with more truth than the travellers quoted — 

 " The bleakest rock upon the loneliest heath 

 Feels in its barrenness some touch of spring ; 

 And, in the April dew or beam of May, 

 Its moss and lichen freshen and revive." 



Even in the desert of loose sand, or equally loose volcanic dust, 

 where there is not sufficient cohesion of particles to permit of 

 higher vegetable growth. Lichens are developed both on the said 

 sand or dust itself, and on all foreign substances of sufficient density 

 to permit of the adhesion of their thallus, or their apothecia ; for 

 they are much more frequently athalline than is generally sup- 

 posed. Thus they coat the bleached bones of the men and animals 



* " Memoir of Lord Haddo," by Elliott. London, 1867. 



f " Northern Lichen-Flora," p. 403, Journal of Linneau Society, vol. ix., 

 Botany. 



X " To what Extent is Lichen-Growth a Test of Age ? " — Report of Brit. 

 Association, 1867, p. 88 ; "Farmer," October 23, 1867, p. 528. 



§ An extract from "M'Clintock's Reminiscences of Arctic Ice-travel," in 

 the ♦' Journal of the Royal Dublin Society," vol. ii., p. 235, bears on the 

 subject. 



Sir F. L. M'Clintock, searching for Parry's encampment at Point Nias, 

 recognised it " by the stones arranged for keeping down the sides of his tent," 

 and others used as seats or pillows, and he found also that " the narrow- 

 " rimmed wheels of Sir. E, Parry's cart had left tracks, still wonderfully dis- 

 " tinct, in the soft, wet earth, thinly coated with moss ! In one place these 

 " cart-tracks were continuous for 30 yards. ... No Lichens had grown 

 " upon the upturned stones, and even their deep beds in the soil, whence 

 '• Parry's men removed them, were generally distinct. . . . This astonishing 

 ♦' freshness of traces, after a lapse of 33 years, compels us to assign a very con- 

 " siderable antiquity to the circles of stones and other Esquimaux traces, which 

 " we find sparingly strewed along the southern shore of the Parry Group, 

 " since they are always moss-covered, and often indistinct." — Editor. 



