14« 



snoUT NOTES. 



cinatum. Ap;a]dh renifirlvs of this ])lant that it has the habit of 

 C. diaphamm with the stnictiire of C. rvlnnn. As Jersey plants were 

 included by Dr. Harvey in the British Flora, I may mention that 

 I liave since received a larger plant of this species, bearing favellse 

 (uDdescnbed by Prof. Ajrardh), from that island. 



Shortly after this Miss Gifford sent me for examination a small 

 specimen of another species with spines, which did not correspond 

 with any British species. Tt was from Porlock, not far from Mine- 

 head, Somerset. This I identified n^ Acantlioceraa fran.tcxrrnix, Xiitz. 

 Sp. p. 684, a native of Calvados. Miss Gifford afterwards submitted 

 this plant to Dr. Dickie, who, T am pleased to say, confirmed my 

 opinion. Three specimens only have hitherto been fonnd. and all by 

 Miss Gifford. One of these was growing on Bossinjjton Beach, quite 

 at the eastern end of Porlock Bay. In this plant the cells of the 

 lower zones are transcurrent. The spines are secund on the outer 

 side of the ultimate ramuli, acute, rijijid, hyaline, and formed of a sinfjle 

 joint. The tetraspores are erumpent, and are seriated on the outer 

 side of the uppermost scfrments. Colour blackish-purple. 



I may add that I have found at Brighton a small plant of Seiro- 

 tpora, bearing cruciate tetraspores, as described by Areschouc;. Another 

 plant of the same species, also bearing tetraspores, had been previously 

 found on the Jersey coast. 



I shall be glad if the perusal of these notes prove any inducement 

 to algologists to search more keenly among our native Alga? for 

 Southern species which may hare located themselves on these coasts. 



SHOKT NOTES. 



Thklocaepon Laubeei, Flot. — The occurrence of this Lichen in 

 Britain is so rare, that its appearance in great quantity is worth recording. 

 Three habitats are given for it in Leighton's " Lichen-Flora," all in 

 Shropshire, and I have now to add a fourth, also in the same county. 

 In the autumn of 1874 a plantation on the Arcoll Hill, an outlier of 

 the Wrekin, by some accident was set on fire, and a large portion was 

 destroyed. The undergroM'th, consisting of Heather, Bilberry. Brake- 

 fern, &c., was so dry that no efforts were able to arrest the flames till 

 the whole area enclosed by the cart-ways for drawing timber was left 

 bare and black ; these formed an effectual barrier and arrested the 

 conflagration. The damage extended over several hundred acres. 

 Last autumn a new growth of vegetation began to make its appearance 

 on the charred surface, amongst which were conspicuous Marchantia 

 poli/morplia, Funaria hygrometrica {}& Charbonniere), seedlings o{ Ptertt 

 aqutlina, and a quantity of Fungi, such as Agaricus cnrhonarius, Fr., 

 Peziza trachycarpa, Curr., Rhizina nndnlata, Fr. On visiting the place 

 this spring I found on the peaty portiotis a large quantity of Thelo- 

 carpon Laureri^ in small patches from an inch to a foot across, extending 

 over a very large area. At first sight I mistook it for the early growth 

 of a Lichen-thallus, but when once recognised the eye became accus- 

 tomed to its peculiar citron-colour and scattered mode of growth. — 

 William Phillips. 



