FOSSIL LICHENS 355 



which recalls somewhat P saxatilis or P. conspersa, collected by Geyler 

 also in the brown coal of Wetterau is accepted by Schimper' as more trust- 

 worthy. 



More authentic also are the lichens from the amber beds of Konigsberg 

 and elsewhere collected by Goeppert and others. These deposits are 

 Cainozoic and have been described by Goeppert and Menge^ as middle 

 Miocene. Schimper gives the list as: Parmelia laainosa Meng. and Goepp., 

 fragments of thallus near to P. saxatilis; Sphaerophorus coralloides\ Cladonia 

 divaricata Meng. and Goepp.; CI. furcata; Ranialiiia calicaris mzxs. fraxinea 

 and canaliculata; Cornicularia aculeata, C. subpubescens Goepp., C. ochroleuca, 

 C. succinea Goepp., and Usnea barbata var. hirta. Schimper rather deprecates 

 specific determinations when dealing with such imperfect fragments. 



In a later work Goeppert and Menge^ state that they have found twelve 

 different amber lichens and that among these are Physcia ciliaris, Parmelia 

 physodes and (?r«/;^w (probably G.scripta succinea) a.\ong with Pezisa retinae 

 which is more generally classified among lichens as Lecidea {Biatorella) 

 resinae. 



Another series of lichens found in recent deposits in North Europe has 

 been described by Sernander^as "subfossil." While engaged on the investi- 

 gations undertaken by the Swedish Turf-Moor Commission, he noted the 

 alternation of slightly raised Sphagnum beds with lower-lying stretches of 

 Calluna and lichen moor — in some instances dense communities of Cladonia 

 rangiferina. In time the turf-forming Sphagnum overtopped and invaded 

 the drier moorland, covering it with a new formation of turf. Beneath these 

 layers of " regenerated turf" were found local accumulations of blackened 

 remains of the Cladonia still recognizable by the form and branching. Some 

 specimens of Cetraria islandica were also determined. 



Of especial lichenological interest in these northern regions was the 

 Calcareous Tufa or Calc-sinter in which Sernander also found subfossil 

 lichens — distinct impressions of Peltigera spp. and the foveolae of endolithic 

 calcicolous species. 



In another category he has placed Ramalina fraxinea, Graphis sp. and 

 Opegrapha sp., traces of which were embedded with drift in the Tufa. In 

 the two Graphideae the walls of apothecia and pycnidia were preserved. 

 Sernander considers their presence of interest as testifying to warmer con- 

 ditions than now prevail in these latitudes. 



' Schimper in Zittel 1890. = Qoeppejt and Menge 1883. » Sernander 1918. 



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