172 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



Genus 1. — Sph/Erophouon, Pers. 



Thallus casspitoso fruticulose, sniootb, polished, fragile. 

 Apotliecia in the apices of the thallus, receptacle irregularly 

 dehiscent. Spores nigricant or violaceo nigricant, spherical 

 or sub-globose, covered with a- black powder. 



1. &. australe, Laur. = S. ceiunoides, Hampe. 



Thallus to 2 inches long, pallid, ramose, branches com- 

 pi'essed, explanate, often distichously ramulose, beneath albi- 

 cant, rugose. Receptacle "6 to "12 mm. broad, lenticulari 

 compressed, external margin above cristato crenate. Spores 

 Oil to Olo mm. cliam. 



Hab. Sealer's Cove, by Dr. F. Mueller ; Moe ; S. cera- 

 noides, Hampe, in Linnsea (1856), XXVIII, p. 217; S. 

 australe, Miill. Lich. Beitr., XVII, p. 1 ; B. v. M., Vic. Na.t, 

 1887, p. 89. 



Var. proliferuin, Wilson. — Thallus cferuleo pallid on 

 upper surface, convex, smooth, nearly shining, under surface 

 white, fo.ssulato canaliculate or scrobiculato unequal, to 3 

 inches long, sub-yjinnatifid, blanches linear, 2 to 7 mm., 

 broad, variously divided. Apothecia on the under surface 

 of the thallus, the margin branching and proliferous once or 

 twice. 



Hab. on the trunks of large trees in shady woods, Black 

 Spur, Warburton. 



The plant grows horizontally fi'om the tree, then droops 

 downwards, and then bends gi-acefulh- upwards, displaying 

 the apothecia on the under side of the thallus. The proli- 

 ferous branches grow, one or more, from the margin of the 

 apothecium. 



2. S. cornpi'essum. Ach. 



Thallus pallido albicant, i-amose, piano compressed. Apo- 

 thecia obliquely minute on the ai)ices ; receptacle lacero 

 dehiscent, or discoid and open. Spores nigricant, spherical, 

 •007 to 01 1 mm. diam. (Nyl.) 



B. V. M., Vic. Nat., Oct. ] 887, p. 89. 



8. S. coralhndes, Pers. 



Krem})., in Verhand. Zool. Botan. Gesellsch., in Wien, 

 1880, p. 329. A mistake for Stereocaulon ramulosum, 

 according to Prof. J. Mueller, in Ratishoii Flora, 1887, No. 

 8. 



