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a. Epilithic Lichens. The crustaceous lichens forming this group spread over the rock surfaces. The support must be stable to allow the necessary time for the slowly developing organism, and therefore rocks that are friable or subject to continual weathering are bare of lichens.

aa. Hypothallus or Prothallus. The first stage of growth in the lichen thallus can be most easily traced in epilithic crustaceous species, especially in those that inhabit a smooth rock surface. The spore, on germination, produces a delicate branching septate mycelium which radiates on all sides, as was so well observed and recorded by Tulasne[317] in Verrucaria muralis (Fig. 14). Zukal[318] has called this first beginning the prothallus. In time the cell-walls of the filaments become much thicker and though, in some species, they remain colourless, in others they become dark-coloured, all except the extreme tips, owing to the presence of lichen pigments—a provision, Zukal[319] considers, to protect them against the ravages of insects, etc. The prothallic filaments adhere closely to the substratum and the branching becomes gradually more dendroid in form, though sometimes hyphae are united into strands, or even form a kind of plectenchymatous tissue. This purely hyphal stage may persist for long periods without much change. In time there may be a fortuitous encounter with the algae (Fig. 38 A) which become the gonidia of the plant. Either these have been already established on the substratum as free-growing organisms, or, as accidentally conveyed, they alight on the prothallus. The contact between alga and hypha excites both to active growth and to cell-division; and the rapidly multiplying gonidia are as speedily surrounded by the vigorously growing hyphal filaments.

Fig. 38 A. Hypothallus of Rhizocarpon confervoides DC., from the extreme edge, with loose gonidia × 600.

Fig. 38 B. Young thallus of Rhizocarpon confervoides DC., with various centres of gonidial growth on the hypothallus × 30.

Schwendener[320] has thus described the origin and further development of prothallus and gonidia: on the dark-coloured proto- or prothallus, he noted small nestling groups of green cells which he, at that time, regarded as direct outgrowths from the lichen hyphae. These gonidial cells, increasing by division, multiplied gradually and gathered into a connected zone. He also observed that the hyphae in contact with the gonidia became more thin-walled and produced many new branches. Some of these newly formed branches grow upwards and form the cortex, others grow downwards and build up the medulla or pith; the filaments at the circumference continue to advance and may start new centres of gonidial activity (Fig. 38 B). In many species, however, this prothallus or, as it is usually termed at this stage, the hypothallus, becomes very soon overgrown and obscured by the vigorous increase of the first formed symbiotic tissue and can barely be seen as a white or dark line bordering the thallus (Fig. 39). Schwendener[321] has stated that probably only lichens that develop from the spore are distinguished by a protothallus, and that those arising from soredia do not form these first creeping filaments.

Fig. 39. Lecanora parella Ach. Determinate thallus with white bordering hypothallus, reduced (M. P., Photo.).

bb. Formation of crustaceous tissues. Some crustaceous lichens have a persistently scanty furfuraceous crust, the vegetative development never advancing much beyond the first rather loose association of gonidia and hyphae; but in those in which a distinct crust or granules are formed, three different strata of tissue are discernible:

1st. An upper cortical tissue of interlaced hyphae with frequent septation and with swollen gelatinous walls, closely compacted and with the lumen of the cells almost obliterated, not unfrequently a layer of mucilage serving as an outer cuticle. This type of cortex has been called by Hue[322] “decomposed.” It is subject to constant surface weathering, thin layers being continually peeled off, but it is as continually being renewed endogenously by the upward growth of hyphae from the active gonidial zone. Exceptions to this type of cortex in crustaceous lichens are found in some Pertusariae where a secondary plectenchymatous cortex is formed, and in Dirina where it is fastigiate[323] as in Roccella.

2nd. The gonidial zone—a somewhat irregular layer of algae and hyphae below the cortex—which varies in thickness according to the species.

3rd. The medullary tissue of somewhat loosely intermingled branching hyphae, with generally rather swollen walls and narrow lumen. It rests directly on the substratum and follows every inequality and crack so closely, even where it does not penetrate, that the thallus cannot be detached without breaking it away.

In Verrucaria mucosa, a smooth brown maritime lichen found on rocks between tide-levels, the thallus is composed of tightly packed vertical rows of hyphae, slender, rather thin-walled, and divided into short cells. The gonidia are chiefly massed towards the upper surface, but they also occur in vertical rows in the medulla. One or two of the upper cells are brown and form an even cortex. The same formation occurs in some other sea-washed species; the arrangement of the tissue elements recalls that of crustaceous Florideae such as Hildenbrandtia, Cruoria, etc.

Fig. 40. Young thallus of Rhizocarpon geographicum DC., with primary and subsequent (dotted lines) areolation × 5.

cc. Formation of areolae. An “areolate” thallus is seamed and scored by cracks of varying width and depth which divide it into minute compartments. These cracks or fissures or chinks originate in two ways depending on the presence or absence of hypothallic hyphae. Where the hypothallus is active, new areolae arise when the filaments encounter new groups of algae. More vigorous growth starts at once and proceeds on all sides from these algal centres, until similarly formed areolae are met, a more or less pronounced fissure marking the limits of each. This primary areolation, termed rimose or rimulose, is well seen in the thin smooth thallus of Rhizocarpon geographicum (Fig. 40); but the first-formed areolae are also very frequently slightly marked by subsequent cracks due to unequal growth. The areolation caused by primary growth conditions tends to become gradually less obvious or to disappear altogether.

Secondary areolation is due to unequal intercalary growth of the otherwise continuous thallus[324]. A more active increase of any minute portions provokes a tension or straining of the cortex between the swollen areas and the surrounding more sluggish tissues; the surface layers give way and chinks arise, a condition described by older lichenologists as “rimose-diffract” or sometimes as “rhagadiose.” The thallus is generally thicker, more broken and granular in the older central parts of the lichen. Towards the circumference, where the tissue is thinner and growth more equal, the chinks are less evident. Sometimes the more vigorously growing areolae may extend over those immediately adjoining, in which case the covered portions become brown and their gonidia gradually disappear.

Strongly marked intersecting lines, similar to those round the margin of the thallus, are formed when hypothalli that have themselves started from different centres touch each other. A large continuous patch of crustaceous thallus may thus be composed of many individuals (Fig. 41).

Fig. 41. Rhizocarpon geographicum DC. on boulder, reduced (M. P., Photo.).

b. Endolithic Lichens. In many species, only the lower hyphae penetrate the substratum either of rock or soil. In a few, more especially those growing on limestone, the greater part or even the whole of the vegetative thallus and sometimes also the fruits are, to some extent, immersed in the rock. It has now been demonstrated that a number of lichens, formerly described as athalline, possess a considerable vegetative body which cannot be examined until the limestone in which they are embedded is dissolved by acids. One such species, Petractis (Gyalecta) exanthematica, studied by Steiner[325] and later by Fünfstück[326], is associated with the blue-green filamentous alga, Scytonema, and is homoiomerous in structure, the alga growing through and permeating the whole of the embedded thallus. A partly homoiomerous thallus, associated with Trentepohlia, has been described by Bachmann[327]. He found the bright-yellow filaments of the alga covering the surface of a calcareous rock. By reason of their apical growth, they pierced the rock and dissolved a way for themselves, not only among the loose particles, but right through a clear calcium crystal reaching generally to a depth of about 200µ, though isolated threads had gone 350µ below the surface. Near the outside the tendency was for the algae to become stouter and to increase by intercalary growth and by budded yeast-like outgrowths; lower down they were somewhat smaller. The hyphae that became united with the algae were unusually slender and were characterized by frequent anastomoses. They closely surrounded the gonidia and also filled the loose spaces of the limestone with their fine thread-like strands. Though oil was undoubtedly present in the lower hyphae there were no swollen nor sphaeroid cells[328]. Some interesting experiments with moisture proved that the part of the rock permeated with the lichen absorbed much more water and retained it longer than the part that was lichen-free.

Generally the embedded tissues follow the same order as in other crustaceous lichens: an upper layer of cortical hyphae, next a gonidial zone, and beneath that an interlaced tissue of medullary or rhizoidal hyphae which often form fat-cells[328]. Friedrich[329] has given measurements of the immersed thallus of Lecanora (Biatorella) simplex: under a cortical layer of hyphae there was a gonidial zone 600-700µ thick, while the lower hyphae reached a depth of 12 mm.; he has also recorded an instance of a thallus reaching a depth of 30 mm.

On siliceous rocks such as granite, rhizoidal hyphae penetrate the rock chiefly between the thin separable flakes of mica. Bachmann[330] has recognized in these conditions three distinct series of cell-formations: (1) slender long-celled sparsely branched hyphae which form a network by frequent anastomoses; (2) further down, though only occasionally, hyphae with short thick-walled bead-like cells; and (3) beneath these, but only in or near mica crystals, spherical cells containing oil or some albuminous substance.

c. Chemical Nature of the Substratum. Lichens growing on calcareous rocks or soils are more or less endolithic, those on siliceous rocks are largely epilithic, but Bachmann[331] found that the mica crystals in granite were penetrated, much in the same way as limestone, by the lichen hyphae. These travel through the mica in all directions, though they tend to follow the line of cleavage, thus taking the direction of least cohesion. He found that oil-hyphae were formed, and also certain peculiar bristle-like terminal branches; in other cases there were thin layers of plectenchyma, and gonidia were also present. If however felspar or quartz crystals, no matter how thin, blocked the way, further growth was arrested, the hyphae being unable to pierce through or even to leave any trace on the quartz[332]. On granite containing no mica constituents the hyphae can only follow the cracks between the different impenetrable crystals.

Stahlecker[333] has confirmed Bachmann’s observations, but he considers that the difference in habit and structure between the endolithic and epilithic series of lichens is due rather to the chemical than to the physical nature of the substratum. Thus in a rock of mixed composition such as granite, the more basic constituents are preferred by the hyphae, and are the first to be surrounded: mica, when present, is at once penetrated; particles of hornblende, which contain 40 to 50 per cent. only of silicic acid, are laid hold of by the filaments of the lichen before the felspar, of which the acid content is about 60 per cent.; quartz grains which are pure silica are attacked last of all, though in the course of time they also become corroded.

The character of the substratum also affects to a great extent the comparative development of the different thalline layers: the hyphal tissues in silicicolous lichens are much thinner than in lichens on limestone, and the gonidial zone is correspondingly wider. In a species of Staurothele on granite, Stahlecker[333] estimated the gonidial zone to be about 600 µ thick, while the lower medullary hyphae, partly burrowing into the rock, measured about 6 mm. Other measurements at different parts of the thallus gave a rhizoidal depth of 3 mm., while on a more finely granular substratum, with a gonidial zone of 350 µ, the rhizoidal hyphae measured only 1-1/2 mm. On calcareous rocks, on the contrary, with a gonidial zone that is certainly no larger, the hyphal elements penetrate the rock to varying depths down to 15 mm. or even more.

Lang[334] has recorded equally interesting measurements for Sarcogyne (Biatorella) latericola: on slaty rock which contained no mixture of lime, the gonidial zone had a thickness of 80 µ, a considerable proportion of the very thin thallus. Fünfstück[335] has indeed suggested that this lichen on acid rocks is only a starved condition of Sarcogyne (Biatorella) simplex, which on calcareous rocks, though with a broader gonidial zone, has, as noted above, a correspondingly much larger hyphal tissue.

Stahlecker’s theory is that the hyphae require more energy to grow in the acid conditions that prevail in siliceous rocks, and therefore they make larger demands on the algal symbionts. It follows that the latter must be stimulated to more abundant growth than in circumstances favourable to the fungus, such as are found in basic (calcareous) rocks; he concludes that on the acid (siliceous) rocks, the epilithic or superficial condition is not only a physical but a biological necessity, to enable the algae to grow and multiply in a zone well exposed to light with full opportunity for active photosynthesis and healthy increase.