371 



bright red, yellow, black, or white fruits 

 and thalli ot Biatora, Rinodina, &c. 



The pebbles and boulders ireely scat- 

 tered over these mesas (and these re- 

 marks apply with equal force to the me- 

 sas of Baja California, at least as far as 

 Lagoon Head) are also brightly colored 

 with the thick red fruits of Placodium 

 bob.cinum, the black species known as 

 Verruca ria nigrescens, with the lar^e 

 black fruit ot Lecanora atra with its 

 broad \vhite thallus, or with various 

 broad patches of some foliaceous species 

 white, yellow, brown, or of some otlr 

 er tint or shade that harmonizes with its 

 surroundings, contrasting pleasantly 

 with the reddish brown earth or the grey 

 colored stones upon which they are com- 

 fortably seated. 



The weather-stained shingles that 

 Stockton used to roof the old mission of 

 San Diego were highly colored with the 

 commoner species of lichens when I first 

 knew that historic edifice- Other roofs 

 and fences of more recent origin are sim- 

 ilarly decorated, and often prove of great 

 attraction to the botanist as furnishing 

 data relative to thtir rapidity of growth. 

 The humble home of the trap-door 

 spider (Cteniza californica), securely 

 closed b)' a neat fitting door, tightly held 

 against possible intruders, is oiten found 

 further concealed by a luxuriant growth 

 of lichens. Whether the sagacious lady 

 of the honse is to be credited with their 

 transplanting, as is claimed by some nat- 

 uralists, or whether they themselves se- 

 lected the site of their abode, and 

 reached full maturity after the spider's 

 house was built, are questions which it 

 would be interesting to have settled. 



Turning away from the close proximity 

 of the sea, we find the rocks in the rug- 

 ged canyons which bieak through the 

 foothills covered with a multitude of 

 equally bright and pretty lichens, ivhich 

 often actually lend color to the whole 

 landscape. Thus the recks at the he;.d 

 of the celebrated Cantiilas c'tnyon. in 

 northern Baja California, are i ich yellow 



372 



while the rocks in the San Tehno Can- 

 yon, near San Quintin, Lower California, 

 are white with lichens whitened as if 

 they had Deen haunted by sea fowl for 

 centuries! 



FUNGI. 



ABCID1UM TIS'SAB E. & K. 

 PI'iRIDEKMIUM DPHKDKAB CKL.. 



On Bphedra, California, Valle de Lag 

 Paur-as, Baja Cal (Orcutt. 

 PEZ.IZA SCUTUL.ATA L* 



Cuyamaea rat (Orcutt). 

 PJ.ICMA CALJfc'OrlNIJA E, & 13. 

 PH Yi^GSTi CTA S j^KAivROPB ISPOR A 



UREDO E'RIOCCMAE B. & E. 



Abbreviations and Signs. 



alt-ernate, one after another. 

 ann-ual, flowering and fruiting in 



the first year or season and then dy- 

 ing 1 . 



anth anthropology, anthropological. 



aes Agricultural experiment station 



agr agrostology (Division of) 



Am America, American. 



an annual. 



B=Buitetin. 



bien-nial, requiring two yearg to at- 

 tain ^maturity, then dying. 



cir cular. 



Co: County. 



Da: Alvah A. Davidson, Plants of L A 

 Co . 



D~A U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 diam-etdr. 



FCM F'elcl Columbian Museum, 



f Figure. 



opj)-osite, on opposite sides of the 



stern, in pairs. 



pcr-ennlal. living year after year. 



pr prf>c r?o cJ i ngrs . 



Quintin: San Qintin bay, Baja, 



R Report. 



sc society. 



sr Series. 



U university. 



Yv 7 West American Scientist, 



Zo Zoology, zoological. 

 O, none or wancing. 



Bibliopva phieal \vord#: a^-ademy ; 

 an- rials; biol-og-y; bot-any; des- 

 cription; cnn-yclo'pae r lia; fl-ora; 

 ft-artl-en; jeavd-ctter gen-era ; hort- 

 iculture; niag-asine; mon-o-graph; 

 miw-eum; nat-ioTral; nr.t-urai; pi- 

 antae; pv-o-ceeuingy; or- quarterly; 

 rtiv-iew; sci-erice; sca'-ies; sp-ecies; 

 syn-cpsfsr i-abula (picture, plate); 

 tr-ansactlons. 

 C-VII. contributions from the U. S. 



National Ilertarium. 



