LECIDEAJ LECIDEACE^ 33 



Resembling in appearance Bilimhia metamorpJiea, of which it may 

 perhaps be only a variety (see Ohlert, I. c). It differs in the firmer 

 a,pothecia and the smaller simple spores. 



Hab. Incrusting mosses on walls in a maritime district. — B. M. 

 Killery Bay, Connemara, Gal way (the only locality). 



38. L. vernalis Ach. Meth. p. 68 (1803) & in Yet. Akad. 

 Handl. 1808, p. 266. — Thallus effuse, thin, unequal or sub- 

 granulose-unequal, whitish or greyish-white (K — , CaCl — ), at 

 times almost obsolete. Apothecia rather small, adnate, convex, 

 shining, immarginate, red or pale-reddish, pale-whitish within ; 

 paraphyses yellowish-brown, indistinct ; hypothecium colourless ; 

 spores oblong or ellipsoid-oblong, 0,011-23 mm. long, 0,004-7 

 mm. thick ; hymenia] gelatine slightly bluish then wine-red with 

 iodine. — S, F. Gray Nat. Arr. i. p. 470 ; Carroll in Journ. Bot. 

 iii. p. 290 (1865) ; Cromb. Lich. Brit. p. 68 pro parte; Leight. 

 Lich. Fl. p. 262 pro parte ; ed. 3, p. 259 pro parte ; Cromb. in 

 Grevillea xxii. p. 10. Lichen vernalis Linn. Syst. Nat. iii. p. 234 

 <r768). 



Regarded by Nylander as the typical species of this section. By 

 earlier authors it was confused with other species, especially L. rubella. 

 As noted by Th. Fries (Lich. Scand. p. 429) the plant in Herb. Linnaeus 

 is a slightly aberrant form of the present species. In its more typical 

 condition it is one of the rarest British lichens, though the subspecies 

 that follows is rather more frequent. Our few specimens are well 

 fertile, with the apothecia more or less crowded. 



Hab. On decayed mosses upon the ground and on boulders in alpine 

 situations. — Distr. Extremely local and scarce, having been gathered 

 only very sparingly on two of the Grampians, and in the west of 

 Scotland. — B. M. Above Loch-na-Gat and near the summit of Ben 

 Lawers, Perthshire ; Airds, Appin, Argyll ; near the summit of Ben- 

 naboord, Braemar, Aberdeenshire. 



Subsp. minor Nyl. ex Norrl. in Not. Sallsk. Faun. & Fl. Fenn. 

 n. ser. xiii. p. 335 (1873). — Thallus thin or very thin, smoothish 

 or minutely granulose, whitish or pale-greenish. Apothecia sub- 

 minute, pale-testaceous; spores ellipsoid-oblong, 0,010-18 mm. 

 long, 0,004-5 mm. tliick. — L. vernalis form minor Nyl. I. c. v. 

 p. 145 (1866); Cromb. Lich. Brit. p. 68; Leight. Lich. Fl. ed. 3, 

 p. 259. L. conglomerata Mudd Man. p. 194 (1861); Leight, 

 Lich. Fl. p. 260 ; ed. 3, p. 257. L. subvernalis Stirton in Grevillea 

 iii. p. 33 (1874); Leight. Lich. Fl. ed, 3, p. 308. Lichen con- 

 glomeratus Heyder ex Hoffm. Deutschl. Fl. ii. p. 174 (1795). 



Exsicc. Leight. n. 151 ; Mudd n. 162 (^fide Nyl. in Flora xlvi. 

 p. 78, as L. vernalis form corticalis). 



Distinguished from the type by the less developed thallus which 

 at times is subevanescent, by the smaller apothecia and spores and the 

 different substratum. The apothecia are often several conglomerate. 



Hab. On the smooth bark of trees in upland wooded districts. — 

 Distr. Seen from only a few localities in England and the S. Grampians, 

 Scotland. — B. M. Oswestry, Shropshire ; Bathford Hill, Somerset ; 



II. D 



