V A R 



V A K 



ireligious departments. He has alio, like them, a falary of 

 looo dollars a-year. In erder to fecure its defence, a mi- 

 litia was raifed in 1803, and a garrifon allotted to the city 

 of Varinas, confiding of a company of 77 men. Varinas 

 has been long known in the European markets, from tlie re- 

 puted quality of the tobacco which its territory produces ; 

 though it is in faft inferior to that which is raifed elfewhere, 

 iparticularly at Cumanacoa, in the province of Cumana. 

 However, fugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, and in general all 

 the fruits of the torrid zone, find here a foil adapted to 

 .each, and their quahty is unrivalled. The commodities of 

 [this diftriit are tranfported chiefly by water to Guiana ; 

 [the (hipping-place being five leagues below the city, at a 

 ■fpot called Tocunos. Within the jurifdiftion of Varinas 

 larc alio very large commons, furnifiiing a number of beeves 

 'and mules, that are exported by the Oronoko, or confumed 

 jin the province. This city enjoys a tolerably pure air, and 

 its inhabitants are reckoned at 6000. The public edifices 

 ^confift of one parilh church and an hofpital. It lies in 

 'N. lat. 7° 40', 100 leagues S.E. of Caraccas. 

 I VARIN-KEY, a fmall ifland in the Spanifh Main. N. 

 jlat. 11° 10'. W. long. 83°. 



i VARIOLA, m Surgery, the fmall-pox. See Inocula- 

 tion and Small-pox. 



Variola Vaccina, the cow-pox, fometimes termed by 

 jmodcrn medical writers 'vaccinia. See Cow-pox and Vac- 

 cination. 



1 VARIOLARIA, in Botany, a genus of the Lichen 

 [family, (fee Liciienes,) named from the eruptive afpeft of 

 |its fruftification, refembling the fmall-pox, or meafles, va- 



\riols: of modern medical writers Perfoon in UIl. Annal. 



;fafc. 7. 23. Achar. Prodr. 27. Meth. 12. Lichenogr. 

 ;67. t. 5. f. I — 9. Syn. 129. Sm. Engl. Bot. 2400. 

 iProdr. Fl. Graec. Sibth. v. 2. 305 — Clafs and order, Cryp- 



togamta Algs. Nat. Ord. Algn:, Lichenes. 



\ EIT. Ch. Receptacles cup-(haped, with a torn border from 



|the cruft, powdery, with a fertile difli beneath. 



j The whole of this genus was confounded by Linnseus 



[under his Lichen fagineus, and L. laSeus, fo far at leaft as its 



jfpecies were then noticed. They now amount, in the laft 



; work of Acharius, to ten, all of a cruftaceous nature, found, 



; fome on the trunks of trees, others on rocks or walls, one 



[on the ground. We have feveral, of Britifti origin, to add 



1 to this lift. 



1 . V. velata. Veiled Variolaria. Achar. n. i . ( Lichen 

 I velatus ; Engl. Bot. t. 2062. Parmelia velata ; Turn. 



Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 9. 143. t. 12. f. l.) — Crult limited, 

 i tartareous, thin, rugged, greyiih, with a pale edge. Re- 

 I ceptacles fmall, crowded ; dilli yellowifh, veiled with a white 

 I membrane ; border thick, even, of the fubftance of the 



crufl Found by Mr. W. Borrer, but rarely, on the bark 



of adi-trees in Suflex. The crujl is thin, fpreading in 

 roundith patches, two or three inches broad, of a greenilh- 

 grey, corrugated in the diflt, minutely fibrous at the edge. 

 Receptacles numerous, feffile, fhield-like, about a fine in dia- 

 meter, pale falmon-coloured, with a thick fmooth border, 

 from which a white membrane is drawn acrofs the diflc, fo as 

 entirely to conceal that part. 



2. V. mullipunSa. Many-dotted Variolaria. Turn. Tr. 

 i of Linn. Soc. v. 9. 137. t. 10. f. I. Achar. n. 2. (Li- 

 chen multipunaus ; Engl. Bot. t. 2061.) — Cruft a(h- 

 coloured, warty, rugged, tartareous, thin, with a fibrous 

 edge. Receptacles hemifpherical, with a white, aggregate, 

 powdery di/k, and fmooth, lobed border. — Found, not un- 

 commonly, on the trunks of beeches in Suflex, by Mr. W. 

 Borrer ^Nearly akin to the laft, but the cruj is more of a 



: grey hue, and lefs uneven, though becoming rugged and 



warty by age. It changes nearly to white in drying. Fruc- 

 tifications the fize of the laft, but eflenti.dly diflering in the 

 want of a feparate membranous covering, and in having each 

 receptacle marked witli three or four depreflions, making fo 

 many diftinft diflis, in one thick lobed border. The furface 

 of thefe diflcs is white and powdery ; their infide pale 

 chefnut. 



3. V. globulifera. Veficle-fruited Variolaria. Turn. Tr. 

 of Linn. Soc. v. 9. 139. t. 10. f. 2. Achar. n. 3. Prodr. 

 Fl. Grsc. n. 2432. (Lichen globuhferus ; Engl. Bot. 

 t. 2008. ) — Cruft fpreading, faintly bordered, rugged, grey- 

 ifli with white powdery warts. Receptacles fpherical, clofed ; 

 at length burlling, with a thin ragged border, and blackifli 



diflc This alfb was difcovered by Mr. Vn'^. Borrer, growing 



on the trunks of beeches and oaks in Suifex, but rarely. 

 Dr. Sibthorp met with it in Greece. The cruj{ agrees in 

 appearance with the following, but the globular veficles, of 

 the fize of fmall peas, fcattered over the difli, and each 

 lodging a blackifli receptacle of feeds, are peculiar to the 

 preient fpecies. 



4. V.faginea. Common Bitter Variolaria. Perf. inUlt. 

 Ann. fafc. 7. 24. Ach. Meth. 12. Prodr. Fl. Grace, 

 n. 2433. (V. communis ; Achar. n. 4. Lichen fagineus ; 

 Linn. Sp. PL 1608. Achar. Prodr. 27. Hoffm. Enum. 

 18. A. t. 2. f. 4. ) — Cruft cartilaginous, rugged, poliflied, 

 greyifli, bordered with brown. Receptacles prominent, 

 hemifpherical, mealy, very white, with a pale, flattifti, at 



length naked, diflc Very common on the trunks of beech, 



fycamore, oak, &c. throughout Europe, from Sweden to 

 Greece. The cru/i, in a perfeft ftate is circular, grey or 

 greenifti when young, corrugated, but with a fmooth poliflied 

 furface, and circumfcribed by a thin border, elegantly co- 

 loured with concentric fliades of brown. Numerous, pro- 

 minent, almoft ftalked, tubercular receptacles are fcattered 

 over the central part, which are very white, efpecially in wet 

 weather ; powdery and fomewhat convex in their diflcs, with 

 a clumfy indiftindi kiad of border. By age thefe, like .the 

 cru/l, become of a dirty white. Mr. W. Borrer has firft 

 obferved a very bitter tafte in this fpecies, not immediately 

 perceptible, but after a while very ftrong, difagreeablc and 

 permanent, like the flavour of the Cyclamen root. No other 

 fpecies of Variolaria has been found to have this bitternefs. 

 We know not by what accident the learned Acharius, ge- 

 nerally fo accurate, has transferred it to our difcoidea, which 

 he has therefore called amara. His fpecific charafters of the 

 two fpecies leave no doubt of what he intends under each, 

 though we do not prefume to decide on all his fynonyms. 

 This being the cafe, we do not feel authorized to change the 

 old LinniEan name, though we readily allow that Linnseus 

 here confounded two fpecies. 



5. V. difcoidea. Flat-cupped Variolaria. Perf. in Uft. 

 Ann. Fafc. 7. 23. Achar. Meth. 14. (V. amara; Achar. 

 n. 5. Lichen difcoideus ; Achar. Prodr. 28. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 1714. L. fagineus ; Hoff^m. Enum. 19. B, C, D. t. 7. 

 f. 2, 5. L. albefcens; Hudf. J29. L. carpineus ; Lightf. 

 807. Lichenoides candidum et farinaceuni, fcuteUis fer^ 

 planis ; Dill. Mufc. 131. t. 18. f. II.) — Cruft cartilaginous, 

 cracked, fomewhat rugged, poliflied, greyifli, bordered with 

 brown ; at length powdery. Receptacles flattifli, mealy, 

 very white ; at length concave, deprclfed, with a dilated 

 torn border. — This is probably as common as the preceding, 

 with which it has been confounded. 'J'lie chief mark of dif- 

 tinftion confifts in the little elevation of its receptacles, which, 

 after difcharging their powdery contents, become quite con- 

 cave, with a thill expanded margin. Hence the prefent plant 

 has been feparated by feveral botanifts from fagineus, even 

 without their adverting to its iufipidity, remarked by Mr. 

 4 M 2 Borrer, 



