VARICELT.ARrA.] 



LECANO-LKCinrKI. 



511 



63. VARICELLARIA Nyl. :Mem. 

 Soc. Cherl). t. v. ( 1^57) ]>. 117; Lich. 

 Scaud. p. 182. — Thallus thinly crusta- 

 ceous, pulveraceous or subleprarioid. 

 Apothecia variolarioid or sorediiform 

 (in convex verrucfe), pale, carneo- 

 punctate or suffused ; thecoe ventri- 

 cose, monospored ; spores very large, 

 1-septate, colourless ; paraphyscs 

 KCauty, subdiscretc, slender, variously 

 arcuate. Spermogones not j'et seen. 



Among other characters well distin- 

 puished from Pertumriri by the septate 

 spores, which are also the larfjest observed 

 among lichens. Only a single species is 

 known, which has recently been recorded 

 as British. 



1. V, microsticta Xyl. Mem. Soc. 

 Cherb. t. V. (1857) p'. 117; Lich. 

 Scand. p. 183, t. i. f. 8.— Thallus 

 effuse or subdeterminate, unequal, 

 rimose or granulato-pulverulent, sub- 

 leprose, whitish (K — , CaCl — ). Apo- 

 thecia moderate, prominent, rotundate, 

 above plane or unequal, often 2-3 

 confluent, white-suffused or denndate, 

 concolorous within ; spores ellipsoid 

 or ovoid, 0,225-0,35U mm. long, 

 0,095-0,115 mm. thick; hymenial gelatine and the thecse deep 

 blue (then often denigrate) with iodine. — Cromb. Journ. Bot. 18S2, 

 p. 274.— According to Th. M. Fries (Lich. Scand. p. 322) it is 

 Ferivsaria rliodocarpa Koerb. Syst. Lich. Germ. p. 384, " sec. spec, 

 orig." ; but as Ivoerber's diagnosis by no means corresponds, the 

 specific name of Xylander must be adopted. 



When sterile and less developed the plant looks quite like a leprarioid 

 or variolarioid state of some Pfrtusaria. The apothecia are innate in the 

 thalliue glomerules, subglobose or at length depressed; in the two 

 British specimens they are only sparingly present in a rightlv developed 

 condition. 



Hub. On the ground in an alpine situation. — Distr. Extremely local 

 and scarce on one of the N. Grampians, Scotland ; though it probably 

 also occurs corticolous in the same district. — B. M. : Ben Avon 

 Braemar, Aberdeenshire. 



Subtribe lY. THELOTREMEI ^j\. Lich. Scand. (1861) p. 183, 

 emend, apud Stiz. St. Gall. Xat. Ges. 1880, p. 394. 

 Thallus crustaceous, continuous, areolate or pulverulent, in- 

 ternally containing gonidia. Apothecia urceolato-impressed. often 

 with double margin ; spores variable in number, plurilocular 



Fig. 71. 



Varicellaria microsticta Nyl. — 



A spore, X 350. 



