LICHEES. 171 



lidlflora is a much admired species, the colour of the apothecia, 

 which are often conglomerate, being a beautiful scarlet. Mrs. 

 Hemans is supposed to allude to it in the lines : 

 " They find the red cup moss where they climb, 

 And they chase the bee o'er the scented thyme." 



C. cervicornis has been very abundant during the wet weather, 

 and it may be seen almost everywhere in damp shady places. 

 The thallus is nearly horizontal, laciniate-lobed, and of a green 

 colour above. Some writers look upon this as a macrophylline 

 state of C. gracilis. The most interesting lichen that I have 

 seen in Australia is C. retipora, but it does not occur in this 

 neighbourhood. The Rev. T. Hassall gave me a specimen of it, 

 which he procured from the vicinity of Berrima, and the accom- 

 plished authoress of "Gertrude" and " Cowanda" informs me 

 that she has had specimens from the same locality ; but as the 

 species was described by Sprengel many years since, I think that 

 it must occur somewhere nearer the coast. It grows to the 

 height of several inches, and the upper surface is granulate. 

 The podetia are erect, tubularly ventricose, pierced with numer- 

 ous small apertures, of a sulphury brown colour, branched, and 

 having small black apothecia. As it becomes old, it assumes 

 somewhat a coralline appearance, becoming nearly white. My 

 learned friend Dr. 1\ Mueller informs me that C. retipora is 

 common in the glacial regions of Tasmania and New Zealand. 



(11) Collema. This is one of the gelatinous or jelly lichens, 

 and is so called from a Greek word, signifying a glutinous sub- 

 stance. All the species are gelatinous, which are supposed by 

 Pries to be algse, in a licheniform state, Nostoc cceruleum being 

 positively stated to be convertible into Collema limosum. When 

 I was searching for mosses some little time since, in the Native 

 Vineyard near the Eev. T. Hassall's, I met with a species of Col- 

 lema growing amongst the mosses, and at first sight I supposed it 

 to be nostoc, but after careful examination of the fructification, 

 which consists of apothecia discoid and scutellate, I came to the 

 conclusion that it was C. air occur uleum, a species distinguished by 

 a very thin and somewhat transparent thallus, from lead colour 

 becoming reddish, when moist, olive coloured. With regard to 

 more minute distinctions, which can only be ascertained by a 

 very high power of the microscope, I must again quote from Dr. 



