104 LiCHENACEI. [SPHJEKOPHORUS. 



This small genus is distinguished from other fruticuk se lichens by the 

 thallus and apothecia. The fructification, though at tirst apparently 

 pyrenocarpoid, is at length entirely as in this series. The black powder 

 of the spores is easily rubbed off, so that it is sometimes not visible in 

 herbaria specimens. 



1. S. compressus Ach. Heth. (1803) p. 135. Thallus fruti- 

 culose, erect, irregularly branched, whitish (K , medulla I); 

 branches short, compressed, much divided, naked or more or less 

 laterally and minutely fibrillose. Apothecia moderate, oblique, 

 globoso-depressed ; the receptacle lacero-dehiscent, or at length 

 discoid and open ; spores spherical, 0,007-11 mm. in diameter. 

 Hook. Fl. Scot. ii. p. 67 ; Sm. Eng. Fl. v. p. 232 ; Gray, Nat. Arr. 

 i. p. 487; Turn. & Borr. Lich. Br. p. 115; Mudd, Man. p. 264; 

 Cromb. Lich. Brit. p. 15 ; Leight. Lich. Fl. p. 49, ed. 3, p. 48. 

 Lichen fragilis Huds. Fl. Angl. i. p. 460 pro parte ; Lightf. Fl. Scot. 

 ii. p. 888 pro min. parte; Eng. Bot. t. 114. Coralloides alpinum 

 corallines minoris facie Dill. Muse. 116, t. 17. f. 34 c. Lichenoides 

 non tubulosum, ramulis nigris scutellis terminates Dill, in Hay Syn. 

 ed. 3, 66. 13. Brit. Exs. : Mudd, n. 254 ; Larb. Lich. Hb. n. 205 ; 

 Dicks. Hort. Sic. n. 23. 



This, as observed by Turner and Borrer (7. c.), "is a singularly elegant 

 and beautiful lichen in point both of shape and of colour, especially in its 

 fertile state, when the striking whiteness of the thallus is relieved by the 

 jetty black of the large open cistute." In moist places the main branches 

 are occasionally of a glaucous colour, and rarely, as stated by Lightfoot 

 /. c., " tinged with a bright-red colour " (becoming, however, darker 

 when dry), " so as to resemble very strongly Corallina rubens Linn." 

 The compressed and normally whitish thallus and the oblique discoid 

 apothecia distinguish it from the following species. The apothecia are 

 but sparingly seen in British specimens, and the spermogones are seldom 

 present. They are tuberculose and brownish-black, situated on the main 

 branches, or more rarely on the apices of the fibrilla?, with spermatia 

 ellipsoid, 0,003 mm. long, 0,001 mm. thick. 



Hah. On rocks and boulders in shady places in upland tracts. Distr. 

 General, though not common, in Great Britain ; rarer in W. Ireland and 

 the Channel Islands. B. M. : Island of Guernsey. Tunbridge Wells, 

 Kent; Ardingly, Sussex ; Dartmoor, Devonshire ; Cromford Moor, near 

 Matlock, Derbyshire ; Craigforda, near Oswestry, Shropshire ; Aberdovey 

 and Cwin Bychan, Merionethshire ; Farndale, Yorkshire ; Teesdale, Dur- 

 ham ; Wark, Northumberland. New Galloway, Kirkcudbrightshire ; 

 Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh ; Barcaldine, Lome, Argyleshire ; the 

 Trossachs and Loch Tay, Perthshire ; ClovaMts.,Forfarshire ; Countess- 

 wells Wood, near Aberdeen ; Lochaber, Inverness-shire. Turk Mt. and 

 Cromaglown, co. Kerry ; Connemara, co. Galway. 



2. S. coralloides Pers.Ust. Ann. i. (1794) p. 23. Thallus unequally 

 and somewhat loosely branched, suberect or ascending, greyish- 

 white or reddish-brown (K , medulla I + bluish) ; branches rounded, 

 numerous, rather short, with compound lateral nbrillse. Apothecia 

 globose, moderate, the receptacle persistent, semi-globose and irre- 

 gularly dehiscent above ; spores spherical, 0,009-15 mm. in dia- 



