rounded conical conspicuous perithecia. 6. rounded, not impressed 

 perithecia tops, and 7. spores with a width of 7-10 mic. (length 10- 

 19 or at most 20 mic.)" 



Santesson continues by descnbing seven deviations with which 

 he associates names of varieties or what he considers to be syno- 

 nyms: 



■"1. With while or light broun clear prothallus. 'V' -scluickccinii 

 Erichs." 



2. With green-gray or greenish black thallus. 'van fiimosocine- 

 rea Vain.' 



3. With connected or tnflingly fissured thallus. 'V. scotinu 

 Wedd.' 



4. Thallus surface with many strongly conspicuous pegs. 'V. 

 iinutiiui Wg." 



5. a. With perithecia almost entirely sunken into the thallus. 'V 



malmei Serv.' 

 b. With hemispherical to nearly sphencal penthecia. "var 

 pniminuUi Vain." 



6. With clearly impressed, frequently somewhat irregular 

 perithecium tops. 'V. trachinodes Norm.' 'V. hayrcnti 

 Erichs.". 'var araclinoides Vain", "f. evoluta Th. Fr" 



(?7. Spores with a width of 1 1-15 mic. ' V. finnnuirkicti Zsch.' )." 



The author has seen all of these forms in North Amenca except '" V. 

 finnmarkica." A common variation results from frequent washing 

 with water from rain or waves which causes the thallus color and 

 texture to become obscured by epithallic algae which produce a 

 smooth greenish surface. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION; Novaya Zemyla (Lynge 1928). 

 Finland (Rasanen 1927). Germany (Erichsen 1957). Spain to Fin- 

 land (Degelius 1935). Italy (Jatta 1909-1911), India (Awasthi 

 1965), Japan (Nylander 1890). Greenland. Iceland, Bear Island. 

 Spitsbergen. Siberia. Bering Strait. Fuegia. Patagonia. Chile. 

 Falkland Islands, and New Zealand (Lamb 1953). Norway (Santes- 

 son MSC). Sweden (Santesson MSC), Wales (Fletcher 1973a). 

 England (Ferry and Sheard 1969). British Columbia (Brodo 

 MSC). 



NORTHEASTERN AMERICAN DISTRIBUTION: MAINE: 

 (Plitt USA). NOVA SCOTIA: Yarmouth Co.. Digby Co.. 

 Shelburne Co.. Halifax Co.. Victona Co.. Cape Breton Co. NEW- 

 FOUNDLAND: West Coast Section. Northern Peninsula Section. 

 East Coast Section, Avalon Section. NEW BRUNSWICK: 

 Campobello 



wet. Erichsen (1957) recognized a var laetevirens as characterized 

 by a leek green thallus which is less transparent. The author has 

 also observed this in material from the southern part of its range in 

 North America as well as a dark grey thallus in the same area. The 

 dark grey thallus has a color and texture resembling graphite used in 

 pencils. Upon wetting, the dark color disappears. 



The penthecia are brown to black and may be shiny or dull. Their 

 shape may range from that of a slightly arched dome to more nearly 

 hemispherical and pointed. The diameter of the perithecia is 

 reported as 0.15-0.25 mm (Lamb 1953). 0.1-0.3 mm (Santesson 

 footnote 2), 0.2-0.3 mm (Zschacke 1925). and 0.2-0.3 mm ( Erich- 

 sen 1957). Erich.sen ( 1957) also recognized xar friesiaca as having 

 a smaller perithecia of only 0.1-1.15 mm diameter The author 

 measured 230 penthecia (10 each from 23 specimens) and found a 

 range of 0.08-0.28 mm except for a single collection in which the 

 range was 0. 16-0.48 mm with 4 out of 10 exceeding 0.3 mm. In no 

 other collection did the diameter exceed 0.3 mm. Clusters of small 

 or larger perithecia may be found and due to the normal patchy 

 appearance of the thalli. one may be tempted to consider such 

 patches as distinct species. Penthecium size should not be consid- 

 ered of taxonomic significance in this species. 



Spores of V microspora are thin walled and will change shape 

 somewhat with osmotic changes. Generally they are ovoid to slightly 

 reniform. The species name infers smallness of spores, but this is not 

 noticeably different from I' ditnuirsua and V sirUituUi. Spore sizes 

 have been reported as 7-12 x 4-5//m (Lamb 1953), 7-11 x 5-7;(ni 

 (Zschacke 1925), and 7-11 x 4-5fim (Erichsen 1957). Enchsen 

 (1957) also recognized var mucosula Sands, with spores 5-9 x 4- 

 9;im, The author's spore measurements give a range of 6-11 x 3- 

 5;(m. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION: Germany (Erichsen 1957), 

 England (Ferry and Sheard 1969), Greenland, Japan, Chile, Ant- 

 arctica (Lamb 1953), Wales (Fletcher 1973a), Norway (Santesson 

 MSC). Scotland (Brodo MSC). Australia (Willis MICH). 



NORTHEASTERN AMERICAN DISTRIBUTION: MAINE: 

 Cumberland Co., Sagadahoc Co.. Hancock Co. MASSACHU- 

 SETTS: Essex Co.. Plymouth Co.. Barnstable Co. RHODE 

 ISLAND: Newport Co. CONNECTICUT: New London Co. NEW 

 JERSEY: Ocean Co.. Cape May Co. NOVA SCOTIA: Colchester 

 Co., Cumberland Co., Yarmouth Co.. Digby Co.. Shelburne Co., 

 Victona Co. NEWFOUNDLAND: West Coast Section. Northern 

 Peninsula Section. East Coast Section. 



Verrucanannuosa ^'Mcnh. in.Ach. Suppl. Mcth. Lich. 23. 1803. 



Vernicdiut inurDsponi Nyl. Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. IV. 3: 175. 1855. 



DESCRIPTION: Thallus usually brown to amber, sometimes 

 green or grey, smooth thin. 20-30 iim continuous or in patches but 

 never areolate. translucent when dry, more transparent when wet. 

 Penthecia dome-shaped (slightly arched) to hemisphencal, some- 

 times pointed. 0.05-0,3 mm diameter, excipulum entirely hyaline 

 below. Spores hyaline, reniform to ovoid. 6-1 1 x 3-5/im. 



Vernuciria microspora is characterized by a thin. normalK 

 brown to amber thallus which is cither continuous or in scattered 

 patches but never areolate. The thallus is devoid of pegs or ndges 

 but may contain artifacts that might superticially resemble pegs or 

 ridges. In some instances tests ha\c proven these to be perilhecial 

 remains. The thallus becomes translucent to quite transparent when 



DESCRIPTION: Thallus grass green to blackish-green, smooth 

 and tough, continuous, often with necral cracks in herbanum speci- 

 mens, 130-150 ;im thick, usually opaque (wet ordry); juga absent; 

 prothallus. is present, whitish. Penthecia submerged to slightly 

 raised, sometimes with prominent ostioles surrounded by chimney, 

 excipulum clear below, involucrellum 0.05-0.2 mm diameter 

 Spores simple, coloriess. usually ovoid. 8-11 ^ 4-5 /im. 



Thallus of this species is easily recognized in the field or in the 

 herbarium. In old herbanum specimens it is brown. Upon drying it 

 develops cracks that arc stnctly necral artifacts not to be confused 

 w ith the nmose areolation typical of V. maiira. A whitish prothallus 

 is often seen around a thallus on smooth rock. 



Perithecia arc normall) flush to slightly raised or sunken. When 

 ripe, the nnolucrellum tends to cvaginate somewhat presenting a 



20 



