312 L’Abbé E. Coémans on the Cladonize 
Flérke (Com. p. 81. obs. 2) accuses Acharius with having 
described, under the name of Cen. pityrea acuminata, only a 
form of Clad. furcata; but the Acharian herbarium shows that 
this reproach is unmerited. 
The C. pityrea (Ach.), which, in my opinion, is nothing but a 
variety of C. pyaidata, gives rise to a great number of forms, 
which are found nearly alike in all the countries of Europe. 
These forms are, for the most part, wanting in the Acharian 
herbarium. I have found therein only the form Isignyi sca- 
brida, Dél., mixed with the var. acuminata, Ach., or designated 
by M. Léon Dufour under the name of Cen. delicata. 
Some specimens of C. sguamosa from Switzerland are marked 
in the Acharian herbarium, Cen. pityrea? 
12. Cladonia fimbriata, (Ach.) Syn. p. 254 et hb. ejusd. 
All botanists know how polymorphous this species or, rather, 
this var. of C. pyxidata is. Thus Acharius, in distinguishing 
the different modifications, established eight subvarieties or 
forms of the type, and two varieties more remarkable. Never- 
theless this au did not know many important forms of this 
Cladonia, e. g. C. glauca, Flk., ochrochlora, Flk., pyxidata fruti- 
culosa, Elk. Pp nyaidata fasitg giata, Fik., and pya«idata pterygota, 
As to the two Acharian varieties, they are so little remarkable, 
that they may be, without any inconvenience, referred to the 
type. The var. conista, especially, with its two subvarieties 
exilis and macra, is in reality altogether insignificant. The var. 
carneo-pallida is distmguished enly by its pale or rose-coloured 
apothecia—a peculiarity which is observable in many species of 
this genus, e.g. in C. gracilis, furcata, furcata var. pungens, 
squamosa, and degenerans, and which is frequently only the 
result of a kind of etiolation. Moreover Acharius has con- 
founded with this variety the C. carneola, Fr. 
As to the forms of the type, they may be reduced to two— 
the form ¢ubeformis, comprehending the subvarieties carpo- 
phora and prolifera of Acharius, and the form cornuto-radiata, 
comprising the subvarieties radiata, abortiwva, fibula, cornuta, and 
nemoxyna of the same author. 
In species so polymorphous as the present one, it is incum- 
bent on us to avoid the creation of varieties with too narrow 
limits, since otherwise the characters are applicable only to a 
certain number of selected forms, whilst science is embarrassed 
and our herbaria encumbered with the host of remaining inter- 
mediate forms. Thus, although Flérke has established more 
than twenty varieties or forms of C. pyaidata, I have found in 
