V A R 



V A R 



Borrer, and which obliges us to retain the old name difeoideus, 

 that of amara being only applicable to the former, where it 

 is not wanted. On the trunks of old trees, particularly in 

 wet weather, V.difco'idea is very confpicuous for its whitenefs. 

 No proper receptacle, of a different colour from the frond, has 

 been detefted in this fpecies. 



6. V. conglobata. Conglobate Variolaria. Achar. n. 6. 

 — " Cruft tartareous, thick, milk-white, plaited and conglo- 

 merated, with a fmooth cartilaginous furface. Warts of the 

 receptacles clofe-preffed, of the fame colour. Diflc powdery. 

 Margin elevated, tumid. Nucleus thick, included, yellow- 

 ifli ; flattened above. "-^Native of France. This appears 

 by its colour, and the different habit of its parts, to be dif- 

 tinft from all the other known fpecies. Acbar'ius. 



7. V. gnJ?o--vlrens. Greyifti-grcen Variolaria. Turner 

 and Borrer Lich. Brit. v. i. 54, unpubl. Engl. Bot. 



■ t. 2400 — Cruft elhptical, thin, (lightly tartareous, rugged, 

 grey, fcarcely limited. Receptacles roundidi, with a narrow 



border. Powder greenifh Gathered by Mr. Borrer, on the 



fmooth cuticle of the bark of birch and cherry trees, in 

 Norfolk. The patches, about an inch or two in length, and 

 half as broad, look hke a dirty ftain, or fome decayed Le- 

 praria ; but when accurateljy examined, prove to confift of 

 a continued, rugged, though thin, cruJI, of a dirty greenifh- 

 grey, bearing very diftinift mealy receptacles, of a yellowifh 

 rather bright green when wet, bordered with white. 



8. V. Cinchortis. Smooth Green Variolaria. — Cruft el- 

 liptical, thin, cartilaginous, pohfhed, nearly even, olive- 

 coloured, flightly bordered with black. Receptacles round, 

 white, mealy, with a fmooth pale border. — Found on the 

 bark of Cinchona Jlcribiinda from the ifland of St. Lucia. 

 Our only fpecimen is above an inch in diameter, of a brigliter 

 more olive-brown than the bark, but otherwife fcircely dif- 

 tinguifhable therefrom. The v/\i\ii^ fruSifcations, fcattcred 

 all over it, fmaller than pins' heads, are very confpicuous. 



9. V. afpergilla. Sprinkled Variolaria. Achar. Meth. 

 13. Turn, and Bqrr. Lich. Brit. v. I. 67. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 2401. (V. communis g; Achar. Syn. 131. Lichen 

 afpergillus ; Achar. Prodr. 28, excluding the reference to 

 Perfoon.) — Cruft orbicular, tartareous, thickifti, dull white, 

 wrinkled, with a fmooth, white, pohfhed edge. Recep- 

 tacles fcattered, elevated, hemifpherical, with an obfolete 



border. Powder very white Found by Mr. Borrer in 



SufTex, more commonly on rails than on trees. This gen- 

 tleman and Mr. Turner have, on the authority of an origi- 

 nal fpecimen, determined the fynonym of Acharius. That 

 learned botanift has fent us, under the fame name, what has 

 a different afpeft, being whiter and full of cracks ; and 

 fuch may perhaps have induced him to refer his plant to 

 V. communis (^faginca) as a variety. However this may be, 

 our afpergilla is infipid, and furely diftinft from fag'inea ; 

 yet, though like difcoidea devoid of bitternefs, it cannot be 

 confounded w'th this latter. Tlie edge ispoliflied and white ; 

 the reft of a pale greyifh or blueifh hue, unaltered by moif- 

 ture. Receptacles neither numerous nor crowded, but fcat- 

 tered, convex, very prominent ; their border minute, and 

 foon obliterated ; their internal diji, or nucleus, pale flelh- 

 coloured, concealed by the copious white powder, which 

 forms a denfe mafs, and turns greenifh by rubbing. 



10. V . c'uicrea. Afh-coloured Variolaria. Engl. Bot. 

 t. 241 1 — Cruft orbicular, tartareous, thin, afh-coloured, 

 cracked ; its circumference indeterminate. Receptacles or- 

 bicular, very fmall, white, with an elevated margin, and a 



flefh-coloured concealed difli :-Difcovered by the Rev. Mr. 



Harriman, on whinftone rocks, in the county of Durham. 

 We conceive it to be of all things moft diftinft from the 

 following, with which it is faid to have been confounded. 



10 



The colour and great tenuity of the crujl ; the want of an 

 expanded or zoned border ; the more evident red nucleus ; 

 and the much fmaller receptacles ; all mark it with preciiion. 

 The white powder of the latter is eafily abraded, and then 

 the d'ljli or nucleus becomes confpicuous. 



11. V. laSea. Milky-white Variolaria. Perf. in Uft. 

 Ann. fafc. 7. 24. Achar. n. 7. Meth. 14. t. i. f. 6. Engl. 

 Bot. t. 2410. Turn, and Borr. Lich. Brit. v. i. 69, unpubl. 

 (Lichen lafteus ; Linn. Mant. 131. Hadf. 526. Wulf. 

 in Jacq. Coll. v. 3. 107. t. 4.) — Cruft orbicular, tartareous, 

 thick, white, cracked ; thin, polifhed, zoned and flefh- 

 coloured in the circumference. Receptacles orbicular, very 



white, with an elevated margin when young Found on 



rocks in the north of Europe. Mr. Harriman's fpecimen, 

 on whinftone, from Durham, figured in Engl. Bot., fhews 

 this elegant fpecies in great perfeftion. Its diameter is 

 often from three to five inches. The finely granulated, tar- 

 tareous, cream-coloured central part, is bordered by a 

 broad thin circumference, polifhed almoft like fatin, marked 

 with many concentric lines or plaits, and tinged with a de- 

 licate flefli-colour at the extreme edge. FruBification when 

 young fmall, and fhield-like, with a thick border ; but the 

 diflc becomes very white, powdery, and much elevated. 

 Mr. Turner found a pale brown nucleus, which we have not 

 feen. 



12. V. dealiata- White-wafh Variolaria. Decand. Franp. 

 V. 2. 525? Engl. Bot. t. 2519. (V. ccrallina ; Achar. 

 n. 8. Lich. Univ. 319. t. 5. f. 6. Lichen dealbatus ; 

 Achar. Prodr. 29. Ifidium coralliimm, a fuppofed variety ; 

 Achar. Meth. 138. t. 3. f. 7, D, E, bad. L paradoxum ; 

 Turn, and Borr. Lich. Brit. v. i. 97.) — Cruft tartareous, 

 thickifh, greyifh-white, cracked, tumid, papillary and rugged ; 

 obfcurely zoned at the circumference. Receptacles orbicu- 

 lar, prominent, white, with an aggregate internal difk. — 

 — Not rare on rocks in mountainous countries. Differs 

 from the lad in having a very narrow, imperfeftly zoned, 

 border, and efpecially in the cylindrical, papillary, ereft 

 procefTes, fometimes in pairs, fcattered over the cruft. The 

 receptacles when young are fmall, concave, powdery, white 

 cups ; but thf few which arrive at maturity become raifed, 

 convex, the fize of hemp-feed, their furface ftill white and 

 powdery, but finally difplaying fevcral little, concave, 

 brownifti or flefli -coloured, feparate difl-;s. ' We are not 

 quite free from doubts, as to the plant of Acharius being 

 tiie fame as our's, and therefore we would not hallily fol- 

 low him in altering the name, by which v/e have already 

 adopted this moft diftinft and curious fpecies in the Eng- 

 lifh Botany. 



13. V. ti/lea. Georgian Variolaria. Achar. n. 9. — 

 " Cruft fomewhat tartareous, unequal, white. Receptacles 

 minute, hemifpherical, powdery, very white ; nucleus lea-' 

 ticular, concealed, afterwards expofed, furrounded wi:h a 

 margin from the cruft, and finally deciduous." — Found 

 on the ground, near Tiflis in Georgia. A muiute fpe- 

 cies. Nucleus flightly convex, at length nearly globofe. 

 yfcharius. 



14. V.gaditana. Spanifh Variolaria. Achar. n. lo.-^— 

 " Cruft nearly orbicular, tartareous, continued, rugged, 

 grey, flightly powdery ; its circumference fomewhat crenate, 

 with little imbricated lobes.. Receptacles hemifpherical, or 

 partly cylindrical, crowded in the centre, and of the fame 

 colour."- — Gathered on walls near Cadiz, by Don Simon de 

 Roxas Clemente. The warts, or receptacles, whether he- 

 mifpherical or fomewhat cyhndrical, become concave with 

 age. 



VARIOLITE, in Mineralogy, a name given by fome 

 mineralogifts to porphyritic rocks, in which the imbedded 



fubftances 



