BUBLtlAj LECIDEACEiE 177 



ed. 3 p. 317. Lecidea parasema var. disciformis Fr. Nov. Sched. 

 Grit. p. 9 (1826). 



Exsicc. Leight. n. ISO; Mudd n. 187; Carroll Lich. Hib. 

 n. 19 ; Johns, n. 388. 



Often confounded by authors with L. parasema, from which, 

 among other differences, the character of the spores renders it very 

 distinct. The thallus, at times little visible, is occasionally entirely 

 evanescent (form ecrustacea Nyl. in Act. Soc. Linn. Bord. ser. 3, i. 

 p. 387 (1856)). The apotheoia are numerous, but usually somewhat 

 scattered. The minute black spermogones, which are not unfrequent, 

 have slender straight spermatia 0,004-5 mm. long, 0,001 mm. thick. 



Hab. On the smooth bark, very rarely on denudate trunks of trees 

 ia upland districts. — Distr. General and not uncommon in Great 

 Britain, rarer in S. Ireland, not seen from the Channel Islands. — 

 B. M. Sevenoaks, Kent ; St. Leonards Forest, Sussex ; near Lynd- 

 hurst, New Forest, Hants ; UUaeombe, Bovey Tracey, S. Devon ; 

 Launceston, Cornwall ; Nannau and Garth, Dolgelly, Merioneth ; 

 Bettws-y-Coed, Carnarvonshire ; Llanforda and Haughmond Hill, 

 Shropshire ; Kildale and Newton Wood, Cleveland, Yorkshire ; Egle- 

 stone, Durham ; Windermere, Westmoreland ; Barcaldine, Argyll ; 

 Kenmore, Killin, Glen Lochay, Glen Falloch and Aberfeldy, Perth- 

 shire ; Barcaldine, Argyll ; Banchory Deveniok near Aberdeen, and 

 Castleton of Braemar, Aberdeenshire ; Lairg, Sutherlandshire ; Apple- 

 cross, Bossshire ; Glenbower Wood and Old Deer Park, Castle Martyr, 

 Cork ; Muckross and Croghan, Killarney, Glencar and Blackwater 

 Bridge, Old Dromore, Kerry. 



Var. saxicola Oliv. Exp. Syst. Lich. ii. 2, p. 145 (1901). — 

 Thallus tartareoiis, smooth, unequal, cracked-areolate, the areolse 

 contiguous, whitish or greyish ; apothecia numerous, becoming 

 convex and immarginate, sometimes 2- or 3-aggregate, somewhat 

 scabrid ; hypothecium reddish- or blackish-brown ; paraphyses 

 discrete, brown at the tips, branched and capitate ; spores 

 ellipsoid, 0,018-22 mm. long, 0,09-11 mm. thick. 



Agreeing with the species in the general characters but differing in 

 the somewhat thicker thallus, the smaller spores, and the saxicolous 

 habitat. 



Hah. On rocks. — B. M. Near Land's End, Cornwall. 



Var. insig^nis A. L. Sm. — Thallus eflfuse, thin, warted- 

 granular, whitish. Apothecia ratlier largej usually plane ; spores 

 large, 0,018-32 mm. long, 0,011-16 mm. thick, otherwise as in 

 the species. — Buellia insignis var. corticicola Koerb. Syst. Lich. 

 Germ. p. 230 {I8r,5) ; Leight. in Grevillea i. p. 134 (1873). 

 Lecidea insignis var. muscorum Nseg. in Hepp Flecht. Eur. n. 40 

 (1853) ; f. corticicola Leight. Lich. El. ed. 3, p. 314 ; L. disciformis 

 subsp. insignis Nyl. ex Norrl. in Not. Sallsk. Faun, ife Fl. Eenn. 

 n. ser. x. p. 340 (1873). 



Differs from the species in the habitat and in the generally larger 

 spores. Leighton (II. c.) records only the f. corticicola (Koerb. I, c.) 



II. N 



