DR. LINDSAY ON TflE LlOflEX-FLORA OF GREENLAND. 289 



that have fallen victims to the iiihospitality of nature ; and all 

 manner of articles of metal, leather, or wood left by passing 

 travellers. Tennyson sings, with perfect truthfulness of descrip- 

 tion — 



" And there they lay till all their bones were bleached 

 And lichened into colour with the crags." 



Some deserts on the Pacific coast of South America appear to 

 be as barren as any in Africa or Asia, if not so extensive. One 

 of them is described by Darwin, who was all day riding across it, 

 as "a complete and utter desert." But he goes on to say that 

 " the loose sand was strewed over with a Lichen, which lies on 

 " the surface quite ^^?^attached.* This plant belongs to the 

 " genus Cladonia, and somewhat resembles the Reindeer Lichen. f 

 " In some pai'ts it was in sufficient quantity to tinge the sand, as 

 " seen from a distance, of a pale yellowish colour. Further inland, 

 " during the whole ride of fourteen leagues, I saw only one other 

 " vegetable production, and that was a most minute yellow Lichen \ 

 '* growing on the bones of the dead Mules." § 



The " Old Bushman," writing of East Finmark, describes " long 

 " stretches of shingle and gravel without the least signs of veo^e- 

 " tstXion^— not even Lichens " (p. 373). || Von Baer ^ says that 

 absence of vegetation is characteristic of the deserts of Nova 

 Zembla. Nevertheless, he goes on to remark, that while foliaceous 

 Lichens are scarce, every block of augitic porphyry is clothed with 

 crustaceous species^ which occur also, though less frequently or 

 copiously, on rocks or stones of other mineralogical character. 

 He specialises Lecidea geographica and Stereocaulon paschale 

 as prominent forms. 



My Catalogue enumerates 268 species and varieties (that is, 

 those separately named by systematists) of Lichens in Greenland. 

 In 1840 the Greenland Lichens on record amounted only to 59, 

 and the difference between these figures shows the extent of the 

 contributions that have been made in the interval to its Lichen- 

 flora. I have elsewhere estimated the Lichens of Iceland at about 

 150.** But it must be borne in mind that Iceland is a very much 

 smaller country than Greenland — occupying only about 3 or 3 J 

 degrees of latitude (from 63J° to QQ^°) — while its Lichens have 

 certainly not been collected and studied to the same extent. 1 

 believe that the Lichens both of Greenland and Iceland are at 

 present under-estimated. I have no doubt that considerable 



* A type of an wwattached desert or steppe Lichen is Lecanora esculenta, 

 Pall. ; described in my " Hist. Brit. Lichens," pp. 228, 211, 51. 



f Probably a form of CI. rangiferina, which is known to occur in Brazil. 



X Probably a form of Placodium elegans or PI. murorum. 



§ " Naturalist's Voyage," chap. xvi. 



II '•' Spring and Summer in Lapland." 



^ '' Voyage to Nova Zembla :" Bulletin Scientifique de I'Acad. Imper. dos 

 Sciences de St.-Petersbourg. 



** " Northern Lichen-Flora," pp. 393-4. 



36122. m 



