Show 5 THE STUDY OF LICHENS A Delightful Rranch of Science With Which 10 llecomo Acquainted They arc a difficult branch to study for the descriptions are shrouded in a mysterious language that needs an unabridged un-abridged dictionary to translate it and a good microscope is necessary if one wishes to examine their internal structure struc-ture and spores But they are a delightful delight-ful and easy branch of science to become be-come acquainted with by observation They are to be found all the yeai round on stones and fence rails and on trees They are easy to mount and are so fascinatingly ugly or beautiful tha they make an interesting collection IL almost any wild bit of country there are from 50 to 70 kinds to be found and even in the most civilipd place at ones own hearth there are uro to bo seven or eight species growing on the sticks oi wood laid for the fire They are so like and yet unlike that they sharpen the powers of comparison and observation until one feels that the keen bladed knife and pocket lens which are constant con-stant companions in a lichen ramble are dull compared with ones own hrrht ThIOfI nS Lichensand by the way they are pronounced likens not litcheus grov in three ways which can bo easily distinguished dis-tinguished at a glance There are crustaceous crus-taceous lichens that grow close to a stone or bark and have no leafy part but are simply a few warts or dots or a stain There are foliaceous lichens that lie fiat They are green or brown or yellow leathery plants that are something like leaves and that have brown or red or pink disks on them and thero are frnti cose lichens that grow upright like little lit-tle shrubby bushes with bright colored col-ored knobs Go to any birch tree and there will be seen within a stained circle some curious cu-rious little black marks like elfin hieroglyphs hiero-glyphs They are the fruit spots of a common lichen called very appropriately appropriate-ly Graphis scripta Almost any tree one visits will have some irregular circular cir-cular stains upon it especially if the bark is quite smooth and in tho center there will be some brown or black or white specks It is easy to collect such crustaceous lichens by slicing off a thin strip of the bark large enough to show the outline of the stain and by writing the name of the tree from which it was taken on the bark but it is quite a different dif-ferent matter when one sits down beside a bowlderNew York Independent |