CHAPTER I. 



ON THE COLLECTING AND PEESERVATION OP LICHENS. 



" No ! them's mosses," was the reply of the worthy farmer who 

 looked suspiciously on the intruder who was whittling at his old 

 fence, on being told that he was collecting Lichens ; and he went on 

 to expatiate on the injury the "mosses" did to the trees in his 

 neighbor's orchard, and to intimate that it was a waste of time for 

 reasonable people to trouble themselves about such things. Country 

 folk are apt to think that plants belong exclusively to the feminine 

 domain, and that a man who goes about collecting them is not far 

 from being non compos. It was of no use to argue the moss ques- 

 tion with him, and so the intruder pocketed his knife and withdrew. 



The Cladonias, Usneas, and even the Southern Tillandsia, which 

 is a parasitic flowering plant, are commonly spoken of as " cup- 

 moss "or "hanging-moss." But no one who has once been in- 

 structed will confound a moss with a Lichen. The former stand 

 higher in the grade of vegetable organisms, and have entirely differ- 

 ent organs of fructification. \ Lichens are among the most common 

 vegetable objects, covering rocks and walls, the trunks and branches 

 of trees, and the earth, with varied forms of gay hues^ Although 

 their specific determination is difficult, and there are many unsolved 

 and perplexing questions in regard to their structure, there is a 

 charm in collecting and studying them, and a great insight to be 

 gained into the processes of nature, in her minutest sphere of action. 

 Unlike the flowering plants, they can be collected at all seasons of 

 the year. They need little labor in their mounting and preservation. 

 Many of them are objects of beauty, and there is no daily walk 

 which will not be rewarded by fresh objects of interest to the watch- 

 ful observer and student of Lichens. < 



Deferring for the present the question as to the definition, struc- 

 ture and classification of Lichens, we will assume that the reader is 

 able to recognize a Lichen at, sight, and consider how he may best 

 collect them and mount them for his herbarium. He will have no 

 lack of material, for they will be all around him. Whether on the 

 seashore or on the tops of our highest mountains, they will equally 



