Ramalinites lacerus, Braun, in the Keuper; I am strongly of opinion that Fossil Lichens will be found when properly looked for. I have been on the outlook for the last twenty years at least for published notices of their occurrence, but without finding references to more than the five or six above mentioned. The subject of Fossil Lichens is, however, of interest, not only in itself, but in connection with the recent discovery by Mr Worthington Smith of a Fossil Peronospora among the foliage of a Lepidodendron. What has been accomplished in the case of microscopic and other Fungi, which are among the most fugacious of vegetable organisms, by palæontologists or microscopists so keen as Mr Carruthers of the British Museum and Mr W. G. Smith, may surely be more readily accomplished in the case of equally ubiquitous and much hardier Lichens. What is wanted is that botanists who have the requisite opportunities for the study of Fossil vegetables, should give to such a search or research, as that for Fossil Lichens, the attention which at present is so copiously frittered away on the hunt for rare or new species of living plants, and on the nomenclature of socalled "species," that consist too frequently of a single specimen, collected by a single botanist. Fossil Lichens may be said, then, to occur, probably or indubitably, in the following geological strata, and of the following geological ages: -* I. Palæozoic: Laurentian (possibly or probably, Dawson). Cretaceous; and III. Cainozoic (Engelhardt). But of greater general interest than these truly fossil forms or conditions, are certain Pseudo-fossil forms or conditions that have been met with in Post-tertiary strata and * In Bartlett's "Index Geologicus," Lichens are said to occur only as low down or far back as Eocene strata. But no genera nor species are mentioned. * in prehistoric times. Such is the pseudo-fossil reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina), mentioned by Krempelhuber as having been found near Schussenried, in Würtemberg, in masses, associated with flint knives, on the one hand, and with numerous reindeer horns, and the bones of bears, wolves, horses, oxen, and other animals, on the other; the whole being overlaid by beds of clay, marl, and turf. The mode and the quantity in which the Lichen is there associated with the reindeer remains, and with the implements of man, warrant the conclusion that the economic use of the reindeer moss, as fodder for the reindeer, was the same in prehistoric ages as at the present day. Professor Nordenskjold, in the Swedish North Polar Expedition of 1872, whose object was to winter in the Arctic regions, and then to conduct an over-ice journey in reindeer sledges from the northernmost isles of Spitzbergen, took with him 5 reindeer dogs, 40 to 50 reindeer, 4 Lapps to attend them, and 3000 sacks of reindeer moss to feed them. The Tchuktchi, too, when they visit the fair of Ostrownoje, having to pass over deserts barren even of Lichens, take with them sledges laden with Cladonia rangiferina for their reindeer.† Nor is reindeer moss used now-a-days as fodder for reindeer only. The Rev. Dr Macmillan, speaking of the Nordfjord, Norway, tells us that "the sæter girls collect, during the summer, immense quantities of the reindeer moss from the fjelds; and when the autumn storms sweep the snow down the sides of the mountains, and cover up with its smooth, uniform surface the steep and almost impassable roads, the farmer brings the moss, frozen into hard, compact masses, on sledges down into the valleys, where it forms an essential part of the winter fodder of the cattle in this district." It does not, however, by any means follow that prehistoric man, any more than savage, and even civilised man at the present day, gathered reindeer moss only to feed domesticated reindeer. In all probability the primi * Vol. iii. of his "Geschichte," p. 56. "The Polar World," by Dr Hartwig, 1869, p. 299. "Holidays on High Lands; or, Rambles and Incidents in Search of Alpine Plants," 1869, p. 210. 66 tive men of Schussenried, like the existing Koraks of Kamtschatka, or the Swedes, Lapps, and Finns, in times of famine, used the moss in question partly or wholly as their own food. The Koraks use as food a mess called Manyalla," made up of the clotted blood and tallow of reindeer, with half-digested reindeer moss taken from the animals' stomachs," where it is supposed to have undergone some essential change. These materials are boiled up together with a few handfuls of dried grass, and the dark mass is then moulded into loaves, and frozen for future use." They eat this, along with reindeer meat (or venison), made up apparently as a sort of porridge, in a bowl, the predominant taste of the mess being "grassi In reference to the use of Cladonia rangiferina as human food, and to the supposed change that it undergoes in digestion in the stomach of the reindeer, it has to be explained that chemists, especially in Sweden, have pointed out, not only that the Lichen contains a certain amount of starch, but that this starch is convertible into sugar and alcohol. And so abundant is the Lichen in Sweden, and so great the facility with which its starch can be converted into alcohol, that some years ago † a coarse kind of brandy, of which a specimen is to be found in the Museum of Economic Botany at the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, was manufactured from reindeer moss in Sweden in quantity-in such quantity, indeed, and of such cheapness, that it was used as a substitute for or adulterant of other and dear brandies. A full account of the mode of manufacture of this Lichen brandy, and of the chemical changes involved in the various stages of the process, has been given by Professor Stenberg of Stockholm. We are told in one place § that he found only about 1 per cent. of starch in Cladonia rangiferina; in another || that 1800 lbs. of it will yield "Adventures among the Koraks," by George Kelman, 1870. + From 1867 to 1872. In the "Transactions of the Swedish Academy of Sciences" for 1868. § Food Journal, July 1871, p. 27; quoted also in the "International Scientific Series" volume on 66 'Food," by the late Dr Edward Smith, 1873, p. 212. North British Daily Mail, July 1, 1876. TRANS. BOT. SOC. VOL. XIII. M nearly 1200 lbs. of sugar; in a third* that 50 per cent. of alcohol is producible from it. Professor Kauffman of Moscow again described it as containing "a large quantity of a carbo-hydrate, convertible into sugar;"† no doubt starch, or its form, Lichenine. In Northern Russia man eats reindeer moss, which is sometimes ground into meal with the bark of certain trees, such as the fir.‡ "In almost every town" [in the provinces of Uleaborg and Wasa]" public bakeries have been opened for bread made of meal, mixed with reindeer or Iceland moss; and to these people have been invited from every parish, for the purpose of acquiring," and afterwards spreading, a knowledge of the method of baking such bread. Thus reports H.B.M. Consul for Finland, in regard to the famine of 1867-68.§ Reindeer moss was recommended for use as human food during famines by an edict of Gustavus III. of Sweden. In Lapland it is, or has been, used boiled in reindeer milk. So important, indeed, do this and other Lichens become in Northern Scandinavia, in periods of dearth of better provisions, that during a famine, a public Society in Sweden, for the purpose of diffusing a knowledge of the Edible Lichens of that country, prepared, published, and distributed to the public. schools 4000 copies of a pamphlet or book, illustrated by actual specimens of the Lichens in question.¶ The property possessed by Cladonia rangiferina of yielding alcohol" readily suggests the value of this primitive vegetation in supporting animal life in a boreal climate, as a heat-producing food," says an American traveller, in speaking of the winter food of the Cariboo, the American reindeer.** To man the Lichen "tastes like sponge," *The Garden, quoted in the Glasgow Weekly Herald, September 12, 1874. + In Watts's "Dictionary of Chemistry,” vol. iii. 1865, article "Lichens." "Études sur les Facultés mentales des animux comparées a celles de a l'Homme," by J. C. Houzeau, vol. i., 1872, p. 70. § Letter in the Daily Review, January 25, 1868. || Article on "Lichen Products" in "Chambers's Encyclopædia." Nature, January 12, 1871, p. 214. ** p 131. "Forest Life in Acadia" (Nova Scotia), by Captain Hardy, R.A., 1869, according to Wood; while another account of it says that its taste is "pleasant, though attended with a slight acidity or pungency.† It is obvious that nothing short of famine, however, would drive man to its use as a food. XVII. Remarks by the President, Dr T. A. G. Balfour. (10th January 1878.) GENTLEMEN,— I beg to thank you most cordially for the high honour which you have conferred on me by electing me your President. Such an honour is great at any time, but in the present instance it is enhanced by my being called upon to succeed in office Sir Robert Christison, whose great learning and European reputation adorned and shed a lustre on the chair. But when I think of him and of the other gentlemen distinguished in different departments of botanical science, who have been its occupants, I feel my utter inadequacy to do anything like justice to the position in which, by your kindness, I am placed. I can only assure you that it will be my endeavour to sustain the dignity of the chair, and to promote the interests of the Society; and I confidently rely on your kind indulgence and forbearance amid the many shortcomings which may mark my career. And now, Gentlemen, I must inform you that I was under the pleasing impression that, with the previous remarks, my preliminary presidential trials were ended, but at the meeting of Council I heard whispers about a few words being spoken regarding the Society; and when in due time the billet reached me, and I found in the largest available capitals, "Remarks by the President," I must confess that I felt somewhat appalled, especially as my time is so limited at present, in consequence of the great prevalence of disease at this season. Surrounded as I am by so many who have devoted their lives and energies to the prosecution of botanical and other sciences, it would be presumption on my part to offer to them any remarks of such a nature as the following. In his "Natural History." + Article on "Lichen Products" in "Chambers's Encyclopædia." |