d 



enclosed in a strong leather guard, to prevent accidents. A spool 

 of stout linen or cotton thread will hold a large supply for tying 

 packages, or, if something stronger is desired, twine can be obtained 

 on spools at the stationers'. A good pocket lens is requisite. 

 Stones are often difficult things to deal with, but a little experience 

 will enable the collector so to direct his blows as to obtain his speci- 

 mens with as little as may be of superfluous material. On stratified 

 rocks this is not usually difficult, but the granite rocks are generally 

 very refractory. 



Pains should be taken to obtain fertile specimens. Sterile speci- 

 mens of Cladonias and of crustaceous Lichens are of little or no 

 value. Inexperienced persons are too apt to collect and send for 

 determination such specimens, and the merest fragments. They 

 had better at first confine themselves to large and perfect plants. 

 As they acquire familiarity with Lichens they will come to perceive 

 that these inferior things are often mere conditions of species which 

 they already know. Still, many of the larger lichens occur without 

 or rarely with fruit, and the collector must be satisfied with the best 

 he can get. He should collect several specimens of each species, 

 and note the localities, so as to be able to return to the spot where 

 a plant has been found in case more should be desirable. The colors 

 of Lichens are heightened by moisture, and after wet weather they 

 become more conspicuous, and some may be more easily detected at 

 such times. But in descriptions the colors are noted as in the dry 

 state. 



Having returned from a tramp well laden with Lichens of all 

 kinds, the next thing is to prepare them for the Herbarium. The 

 plants will be separated and sorted. The leafy and shrubby ones 

 will be placed between paper under light pressure to dry and flatten. 

 Those on bark may be reduced in thickness on the under side, and 

 then placed under considerable pressure for several days, till they 

 are thoroughly dry, so that they may not curl and take up room in 

 the herbarium. If they have become curled and hard they may be 

 placed in cold water till soft, and then put into the press. Cold 

 water does not harm recently collected plants, though wetting those 

 in the herbarium that have lost their vitality should be avoided, and 

 warm or hot water is decidedly injurious at all times. 



Rock lichens may, with proper pains, often be considerably re- 

 duced in thickness so as to reduce the space they occupy ; but pains 



