Rev. W. A. Leighton on new British Lichens. 131 



of which I am master, I have been unable to detect in these 

 bodies either asci or sporidia, both of which however Massalongo 

 describes and figures in his ' Ricerche Lich. Crost/ p. 126. 

 fig. 249. To my eye, a thin vertical section showed a compact 

 gelatinous mass, the outer surface of which was of a somewhat 

 darker yellow, slightly striated (see Plate VIII. fig. 12), and this 

 part became tinged blue with iodine, from which issued, by 

 pressure in the compressorium of the microscope, a few minute 

 linear-pyriform pale yellow bodies endowed with a slight 

 Browman motion (see Plate VIII. fig. 13). If then these convex 

 masses be regarded as the apothecia of Biatora luciday Fries, 

 the thallus must belong to it, and Coniocybe citrina be only 

 parasitical. But as I observed the Coniocybe continually recur- 

 ring on the citrine thallus at intervals in considerable abundance 

 during the whole stage from Corwen to Bala, a distance of 12 

 miles, I incline to regard the thallus as rather belonging to 

 Coniocybe citrina^ and the so-called apothecia of Biatora lucida 

 as the spermogonia or receptacles of the supposed male organs 

 of fructification. 



From all other species of Coniocybe hitherto detected in 

 Europe, Coniocybe citrina dififers both in the sporidia and in 

 other particulars. In Coniocybe furfur acea, Ach., and its varie- 

 ties, as exhibited in Schser. Exs. 14 ! 296 ! 639 ! ; Nyl. Lich. 

 Paris. 7 ! ; Leight. Lich. Brit. Exs. 225 ! ; Heppe, Lich. Europ. 

 154 ! ; and in my own herbarium from Upsal, Sweden ! from 

 Fries fil., and various parts of Britain !, the sporidia are minute, 

 round and yellow (see Plate VIII. fig. 14) . In Coniocybe gracilentay 

 Ach., as in Von Zwackh, Lich. Germ. 21 ! ; Heppe, Lich. Europ. 

 45 ! ; and " in sylva Gurten, Schser.^' ! from Dr. Guthnick of 

 Berne, they are similar to those of C.furfuracea, Ach. (see Plate 

 VIII. fig. 15). In C. pallida^ Fries, as in Schser. Exs. 7 ! and 

 from Upsal ! Fries fil.; and in its varieties, leucocephala, Zwackh, 



101 a ! 101 b !, and Heppe, 155 ! ; and xanthocephala, Zwackh, 



102 ! Heppe, 44 ! and "circa Bernam, Schser.^^ from Dr. Guth- 

 nick, the sporidia were much larger, round, with a pale hyaline 

 margin and darker yellow central nucleus (see Plate VIII. fig. 16). 

 C.farinaceaj Chev., as in Nyl. Lich. Paris. 6 !, has sporidia similar 

 to C. pallida, Fries (see Plate VIII. fig. 16). In C. hyalinelhy 

 Nyl., as in Moug. & Nestl. 1162 !, they were minute and pale 

 yellow as in C. furfur aceajKch.., but larger in size (see Plate VIII. 

 fig. 17). To C. nigricans, Fries, whether regarded as a distinct 

 species, or according to Nyl. Nouv. Classif. "vix distinguenda 

 a C. subtiliy Pers.,'' as exhibited in Schser. Exs. 250 ! Zwackh, 14 ! 

 and Heppe, 157 !, our plant assimilated in the oblong pale-brown 

 uniseptate sporidia (see Plate VIII. fig. 18), but dififered in other 

 respects ; C. nigricans, Fries, having a white thallus, the apo- 

 thecia black, and the stipes much stouter, black, perfectly smooth 



9* 



