REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF LICHENS. 265 



of tlie warmer temperate zone or the Carolinian and Louisiauian life 

 areas, one-half of this proportion having their home exclusively in the 

 latter. In the mountain region on the ridges of greatest elevation a 

 vertically sharply limited rupestrian lichen formation is met with. At 

 an elevation approaching 2,000 feet the bare Carboniferous sandstone 

 cliffs or the flinty metamorphic rocks which form the brow and summit 

 of the ridges are covered by the black thallus of Umbilicaria pustulata 

 ( variety papulosa) not encountered at a lower altitude. Judge Peters, 

 who had been collecting in a section of the mountain region with the 

 highest point scarcely exceeding 1,600 feet, stated that he had not found 

 an Umbilicaria in Alabama. Ashy-gray Endocarpoiis (E. muhlenbergii), 

 lead-colored saxicole Pannarias, and the white and light-gray incrusta- 

 tions of Yerrucarias and Lecanoras invest the rocky crests of these 

 heights with a coating of various tints. The following have been found 

 to prevail throughout the mountain region, having been collected on 

 sandstone by T. M. Peters: 



Biatora rufonigra. Pannaria crossophylla. 



Nepliroma helveticum. Pannaria triptophylla. 



Lecanora rubina. Pertusaria sorediata. 



Lecanora privigna. Physcia obscura. 



Lecanora cinerea. Leptogium lacerum. 



Lecanora muralis. Leptogium apalachense. 



Rinodina thomeae. Leptogium pulchellum. 



Cladonia caespiticia. Leptogium juniperinum. 



Cladonia squamosa. Leptogium myochroum. 



Cladonia Jimbriata. Collema eallibotrys. 



Collected on limestone : 



Staurothele disfractella. Omphalaria symphorea. 



Staurothele petersii. Omphalaria girardi. 



Vcrrucaria rupestris purpurascens. Omphalaria umbella. 



Sagedia fnscella. Omphalaria melambola. 



Placodium aurantiacum. Omphalaria schaereri. 



Placodium ferrugineum. Collema pustulatum. 



Collema tenax and a few other collemaceous lichens, like Pannaria 

 stenopliylla, P. petersii, and Heppia despreauxii, prefer the somewhat 

 sheltered, moss-covered rocky shelves, where there is a slight accu- 

 mulation of earth. These lime-loving lichens are also found in the 

 adjacent valleys on the outcrops of the mountain limestone. In the 

 shallow rocky beds of brooks all over the Warrior table-land, at an 

 elevation of 900 to 1,000 feet, Ephebe pubescens is abundant, where also 

 on the wet rocks of the banks of the head Abaters of the Sipsey Eiver 

 (Winston County) Endocarpon fluviatile and Lecanora lacustris occur. 

 The ledges of the ferruginous sandstone or conglomerates crowning the 

 crests and flanks of the Orange sand throughout the Coast Pine belt 

 are covered with the black crusts of Lecanora xantlwpliana. 



In the Coast Pine belt, and particularly in the damp Coast plain, 

 lichens abound. The hammocks and wooded swamps which border the 



