330 PYRENOCARPEI [lEPTORHAPHIS 



Perithecia simple, globose or semi -globose, black, innate-sessile ; 

 ostiole poriform ; parapliyses persistent, blanched and entangled ; 

 asci cylindrical, 4-8-spor6d ; spores acicular-fusiform, straight or 

 bent, 1- pluri-septate, colourless. Sperinogones gloV)ose or ovoid, 

 with rod-like spermatia. 



Similar to Arthopyrenia, but with acicular spores. 



1. L. epidermidis Th. Fr. Lich. Arct. p. 273 (I860).— Thallus 

 very thin, cream-coloured or greyish, effuse, smooth. Perithecia 

 elliptical-hemispherical, bursting the bark, black and somewhat 

 shining ; perithecial wall dimidiate, spreading at the base ; 

 paraphyses rather indistinct ; spores 8 in the ascus, more or less 

 curved, 1-5-septate, 0,020-37 mm. long, 0,003-4 mm. thick. — 

 Lichen epidermidis Aoh. Lich. Suec. Prodr. p. 16 (1798). Verm- 

 caria epidermidis var. alhissima Ach. Lich. Univ. p. 276 (1810). 

 V. oxyspora Nyl. in Bot. Not. 1852, p. 179; Cromb. Lich. Bot. 

 p. 121. F. alhissima Nyl. Lich. Scand, p. 282 (1861); Leight. 

 Lich. Fl. p. 449; ed. 3, p. 481. ArtJiopyrenia oxyspora Mudd 

 Man. p. 306 (1861). 



JSxsicc. Mudd n. 299. 



Hab. On bark of birch. — Distr. Eare throughout England, Scotland 

 and S. and W. Ireland. — B. M. Pease Pottage Gate, Sussex ; Thomdon 

 Hall near Brentwood, Essex ; Dolgelly, Merioneth ; Hoggart's Wood, 

 Ingleby, Cleveland; Swanston Wood, Edinburgh; Glen Falloch, 

 Perthshire ; Morrone, Braemar, Aberdeenshire ; Killarney, Kerry. 



2. L. Carrollii A. L. Sm. — Thallus crustaceous, thin, brownish. 

 Perithecia minute, black, scattered, hemispherical, immersed at 

 the base, opening by a small pore ; perithecial wall dimidiate ; 

 paraphyses slender, branched and entangled ; asci elongate- 

 cylindrical, about 0,090-100 mm. long, 0,010 mm. thick; spores 

 8, parallel in the ascus, slender, acicular, indistinctly multi-septate, 

 0,050-80 mm. long, 0,001-2 mm. thick, straight or variously 

 bent. 



Distinguished by the long slender spores. The perithecia are 

 rather few and scattered. 



Distr. On bark of trees. — B. M. Glenbower, Cork (the only 

 locality). 



115. MICROTHELIA Koerb. Syst. Lich. Germ. p. 372 

 (1855) ; emend. Massal. Misc. Lich. p. 57 (1856). (PI. 51.) 



Thallus crustaceous, superficial or developed within the sub- 

 stratum, not corticated. Perithecia small, superficial or semi- 

 immersed, semi-globose ; paraphyses branched, entangled, some- 

 times mucilaginous and disappearing ; asci cylindrical-clavate or 

 pyriform, 2-8-spored ; spores ovate or elongate-fusiform, usually 

 1 -septate, rarely 3-5-septate, brown. Spermogones globose, 

 minute, with short rod-like spermatia. 



