IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
25 
generally accepted the \Schwendener theory,’ * 
and this, too, simply as a dogma, without having acquainted 
themselves with the arguments against it by the eminent 
lichenographers of Europe, and by Professor Tuckerman 
in this country. * * * I should be sorry to think that 
these professors have joined in the conspiracy of silence 
toward the opposing arguments of such men as Nylander, 
Muller, Minks, Krempelhuber, Th. M. Fries, Tuckerman 
and others.” I can not give the whole quotation, but it 
may be seen in the preface of the “Enumeration of the 
New Bedford Lichens.” Willey does not with Nylander 
quite charge calumny, but he, no doubt, voices the senti- 
ments of the greater number of lichenists of the period. 
However, it is not remarkable that a man whose botanical 
work was almost wholly confined to taxonomic studies of 
lichens should be slow to grasp the value of the recent 
morphological and physiological studies, and this failure 
in no way detracts from the great value of Willey’s work 
on the American lichens. I was fortunate enough to have 
the benefit of his council to a limited extent a few years 
ago before increasing age forced him to give up his work, 
and have also had ample opportunity for inspecting his 
determinations, which were always most carefully made. 
Finally, we must not fail to state that to Willey belongs 
the credit for the completion of the second part of Tucker- 
man’s Synopsis after the death of the author. 
Passing over some minor workers, our space must now 
be devoted to the great American lichenist, Tuckerman. 
He stands out so pre-eminently as an American lichenist 
that something of his history is a proper part of the history 
of American lichenology. Born in 1817, he obtained his 
bachelor’s degree in 1887, and two years later finished the 
law course at Harvard. In 1841 and 1842 he traveled in 
Europe and met the great lichenist, Elias Fries, at Upsala. 
Returning to this country, he accompanied Asa Gray to 
the White Mountains and began the difficult exploration 
which has rarely been excelled for completeness. That he 
began his botanical studies in early life and devoted him- 
self chiefly to lichens from the first appears from the fact 
