^8 LICHENES. 



[Endocarpon. 



On rocks, on the summit of Carig, County of Kerry. To the naked 

 eye the apothecia are scarcely visible, and the thallus would seem 

 little more than an efflorescence of rust on the surface of the rock. 

 Viewed with a lens, on the nearly filmy thallus, minute flattish lighter 

 coloured elevations are observable ; the thallus is not altered by 

 moisture ; the substratum appears between the cracks and at the edges 

 of the thallus. The apothecia are immersed, somewhat rugose: the 

 perithecium passes beneath the nucleus, and is entirely filled with it ; 

 yet the nucleus seems also enclosed in a proper hyaline slightly brown 

 tunic : it is globose, and consists of white transparent gelatine, in 

 which numerous opaque points or cells are observable under a high 

 power of the microscope. The thallus, cut into, exhibits a layer 

 of green parenchymatous matter beneath the brown surface. 



39. V. erysiboda. Thallus subtartareous, very thin, uneven 

 with granulations, very minutely cracked, indeterminate, of a 

 pale rust colour; apothecia prominent, rather large, hemisphe- 

 rical, dark rusty brown when dry, pellucid and fiery brown 

 when wet ; pore minute ; perithecium deficient beneath the nu- 

 cleus. 



On rocks, on the summit of Carig, County of Kerry. The moist- 

 ened thallus, when cut, presents a layer beneath the surface of a lively 

 yellowish-green colour : granulations distinct or confluent are not un- 

 usual towards the centre. The apothecia are easily distinguished by 

 the naked eye, of a duskier brown than the thallus : the perithecium 

 is thick, dark brown, pellucid when wet, not passing beneath the 

 nucleus ; its minute pore is apparent by transmitted light : the nucleus 

 is large, globose, and has a distinct pale tunic within the perithecium : 

 its lower half lies beneath the surface of the thallus ; it is semitrans- 

 parent, whitish, gelatinous, and contains a multitude of longitudinal 

 cells, placed side by side. The present species differs from V. rubigi- 

 nosa by the rusty hue of the surface, which, too, is cracked, by the 

 want of a substratum, by the larger apothecia, and by their minuter 

 pore. It selects dry situations, but V. rubiginosa where water 

 trickles. 



14. Endocarpon, Hedw. 



Thallus cartilaginous or foliacious, often lobed ; apothecia glo- 

 bose, enclosed in the thallus, with a marginated, dusky per- 

 foration at the apex, enclosing a nucleus. 



The inferior edge of the thallus being free, i. e. not adherent, seems 

 to indicate a natural character to distinguish this from the preceding 

 genus ; however unsatisfactory, it is still less so than any difference in 

 the structure of the apothecia, on which, however, Acharius laid the 

 greatest stress. 



1. E. miniatum, Ach. Thallus foliaceous, coriaceous, sub- 

 umbilicated, orbiculate, lobed, smooth beneath, olive grey or 

 greenish; apothecia numerous, their pores minute. Ach.L.Un. 

 p. 301. a. umbilicatum ; nearly simple. Eng. Bot. t. 593. 

 ft. complication, caespilose, polyphyllous, the lobes imbricated, 

 erect. E. complicatum, Ach. L. Un. p. 303. 7. aquaticum, 

 caespitose, polyphyllous, the lobes imbricated, the middle con- 



