ALECTORTA.] ALECTORIEI. 209 



Grows in large tufts with the thallus at length free, is often sprinkled 

 with small whitish soredia, and has the fertile branches thicker. It 

 varies somewhat in the degree of blackness with which its normally pale 

 yellow colour is diversified, this being confined to the apices of the 

 branchlets, as is usually the case with us, or extending over the greater 

 portion of the thallus, as in Arctic regions. In Great Britain the apothecia 

 are extremely rare, having been seen in only a single specimen. The 

 spermogones, which are seldom present with us, are minute, punctate, 

 colourless within, with spermatia 0,007-8 mm. long, scarcely 0,001 mm. 

 thick. 



Hab. Among mosses on gravelly soil in alpine places. Distr. Confined 

 to some of the higher Grampians, Scotland, on or near their summits. 

 B. M. : Cairngorm and Cairntoul, Braemar, Aberdeenshire ; ? Clova Mts., 

 Forfarshire. 



Form tenuior Cromb. Journ. Bot. 1872, p. 232. Thallus smaller, 

 decumbent, the branches more slender, somewhat entangled and 

 concolorous at the apices. Apothecia small, pale reddish-brown. 

 Leight. Lich. Fl. ed. 3, p. 79. Lichen sarmentosus Eng. Bot. 

 t. 2040 (smaller fig.). 



This form depends no doubt upon the habitat. It bears a general re- 

 semblance except in colour to the terminal branchlets of var. cincinnafa 

 of A. sannentosa, to which belongs the specimen from Morrone cited in 

 Journ. Bot. /. c. and quoted in Leight. Lich. Fl. p. 88 as var. crinalis. In 

 the only specimen seen there is but a single young apothecium visible, 

 which is rather lateral than pseudo-terminal. 



Hab. On sterile ground in alpine places. Distr. Seen only from one 

 of the loftier mountains of the N. Highlands of Scotland. B. M. : Ben 

 Luighal, Sutherlandshire. 



2. A. sarmentosa Ach. Lich. Univ. (1810) p. 595.-- -Thallus 

 pendulous or prostrate, elongate, complicate, very much and remotely 

 branched, compressed at the axils, whitish-straw-coloured, the 

 apices attenuate, long, coucolorous (K~, K (CaCl) f ~ redd}s j i ). 

 Apothecia small, lateral, badio-reddish or brown ; spores 3-4nae, 

 0,015-36 mm. long, 0,014-30 mm. thick. Cromb. Journ. Bot. 

 1875, p. 140 ; Leight. Lich. Fl. ed. 3, p. 79. Lichen sarmentosus 

 Ach. Yet. Ak. Handl. 1795, p. 212, t. 8. f. 2. ? Usnea loris longis 

 dichotomis, extremitatibus tenuioribus Dill. Muse. 59, t. 11. f. 2. 



Distinguished by the form of the thallus and the situation of the apo- 

 thecia. The thallus, which varies in thickness, is rounded or here and 

 there somewhat compressed, smooth or more or less lacunoso-foveolate, 

 with the branches divaricate or dichotomous. Our only known British 

 specimen belongs to the usual alpine and thicker condition. It has only 

 a few apothecia and no spermogones. 



Hab. Among mosses on the ground in alpine situations. Distr. 

 Known only from one of the N. Grampians, Scotland. B. M. : Cairn- 

 gorm, Banffshire. 



Var. j8. cincinnata Nyl. Syn. i. (I860) p. 282 ; Flora, 1869, p. 244. 

 Thallus prostrate, sarmentose, intricate, unequally compressed, 

 thickened, impresso-lacunose, remotely branched, pale greenish 



