OF FILAMENTOUS, FRUTICULOSE, AND FOLIACEOUS LICHENS. 107 
lost. How closely, frequently, do Spherie resemble Verrucaric, and the spermo- 
gones and pycnides of lichens those of the fungi? So intimate is the alliance 
between the fungi and lichens, that BerKELEy,* in his Cryptogamic Botany, makes 
his division “ Mycetales,” to include the “ Lichenales” and ‘‘ Fungales.” Many 
spermogones, it now appears, have been described by the older lichenologists as 
independent species of lichens: Fries’ genus Pyrenothea, and WALLRoTH’s 
Thrombium, are chiefly made up of spermogones which belong to various Lecidee, 
Graphidee, and Verrucarice. Some of these may hereafter be found really to belong 
to the fungi. Several genera or species of fungi have shared a similar fate, as a 
consequence of the progress of microscopical mycology, having been found to con- 
stitute mere secondary or tertiary forms of fruit of more familiar species ; such 
fungi are Sclerotium, Cytispora, Melasmia, Phyllosticta, Polystigma, Phoma, partly, 
and many others, according to TuLasne, who is equally distinguished as a myco- 
logist and lichenologist. It were specially desirable that he who studies the 
spermogones and pycnides of lichens should be a mycologist, as well as a licheno- 
logist ; in no other way can he properly interpret and appreciate what he observes. 
I believe that he only can be a philosophical lichenologist who is comparatively 
well acquainted with the anatomy and affinities of the fungi and algze: while it is 
equally necessary that the mycologist and algologist should possess a competent 
knowledge of the structure and physiology of the lichens. Indeed, it has perhaps 
been from a too exclusive study of particular tribes of plants, and a desire to fill 
their ranks at the expense of their allies or neighbours, that much confusion has 
been introduced into classification and nomenclature, and much ignorance has 
prevailed as to the true position of lichens in the scale of vegetable life. Mono- 
graphers, it is to be feared, work too much in their own favourite fields to arrive 
at or deduce broad, philosophical, or scientific conclusions or general laws ; speci- 
alists are apt to take up one-sided, and hence erroneous views. Nor must the 
student of spermogonology confine himself to the lichens of one country or clime, 
and still less to herbaria of dried specimens. I have sometimes succeeded in 
finding, in foreign specimens of a lichen, spermogones which were absent in all 
the British, or even European, specimens examined by me: for instance, in 
Nephromium tomentosum. Another advantage of the study of foreign species is, 
that it will serve to exhibit the constancy with which spermogones or pycnides of 
a particular character occur in the majority of lichens, as well as the constant 
relation as to site which they bear to the apothecia. 
Frequent disappointments must have been experienced by all who have 
sought for the spermogones of lichens, in so far as they may jail to find them 
oftener than they succeed. This arises, in many cases, undoubtedly from igno- 
rance of the relative periods of development of the spermogones and apothecia. 
* Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany. By the Rev. M. J. Berxerzy, M.A., F.L.S. London, 
1857. 
