854 CRYPTOGAMIA AhGM. 



water, of a red colour, and urinous fmcll •, wh 

 dry, fulcous, except the extremities, which ; 

 whitilh or buff-colour'd. 



The fhields are rarely feen. They appear at ft 

 like very fmall tubercles, with a point in tlr 

 centre •, attcrwards they encreafe, and formo- 

 cave fhields, about i-6th of an inch in diar - 

 ter, of a tawny red colour, with granula,:l 

 pale blue margins. 



But what is mofl fingular in this Lichen, is, tl, 

 bcfides thefe fhields, there grow out of the lea 5 

 black green tufts or balls, of various fizes, wl;h 

 appear, by the help of a microicope, to becn- 

 pofed of numerous white pedicles, dichotomy y 

 divided at the top into a duller of pellucid d.i 

 green gelatinous branches, covered with bl k 

 farinaceous particles. 



M^hether thefe balls are a part of the plant it f, 

 or only a parafitical produ(5lion, Dillenius i: n 

 doubt ; but Michdi and Scopuli pronounce tl 11 

 to be female frudifications and their opir n 

 feems to be nearefl the truth, as thefe prod> 

 tions do conftantly attend this plant, and I'e 

 never yet been difcovered elfewhere. 



Some fpccimcns indeed, according to Micheli^ p- 

 duce fljiclds only ; and others, balls, wltl it 

 fhields, which might induce one to think ic 

 plant was di^cious. 



