British Museum (Natural History)

ERIK ACHARIUS AND HIS INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH LICHENOLOGY 179
The Acharius lichens in the British Museum (Natural History) (BM-ACH)
The collection of lichens sent to London by Acharius as a gift to the Linnean Society of London
was neglected for many years, the specimens attached to their cards being kept loose in drawers
in a cabinet. In April 1961 the collection was removed to the herbarium of the British Museum
(Natural History) by Mr P. W. James, Mr J. R. Laundon (BM), and Dr R. Santesson
(University of Uppsala). In 1962-63 Mr J. R. Laundon curated the collection into its present
state, a painstaking task of which he later noted 'the specimens were on their present cards,
which were kept loose in drawers and which were so black with dirt that one had great difficulty
in reading the names on many of the specimens. It took me several months work just to remove
this dirt from the labels and material . . .' (J. R. Laundon, pers. comm.) The Acharius lichens
were purchased from the Linnean Society of London by the British Museum (Natural History)
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Fig. 16 Title page of Acharius's handwritten catalogue of lichens, now in the Herbarium, Lichen Section,
British Museum (Natural History).