152 DR LAUDER LINDSAY ON THE SPERMOGONES AND PYCNIDES 
FAMILY VII. SrerrocauLEé. 
GENUS I. StEerREOocAULON, Schreb. 
The spermogones are very irregular warts, which sometimes cover the sterile — 
ramules about their ends; sometimes are seated immediately below the apothecia, 
to which, when aggregated circularly, they form a kind of collar. Soredic warts 
also occur abundantly on the different species of this genus; but the spermogonal 
ones are generally distinguishable, without having recourse to microscopic exami- 
nation, by their black or brown ostioles, which are generally round, stellate, or 
triangular, according to their age. These ostioles lead into the body of the sper- 
mogone, which is wholly immersed in the warts in question. The internal tissue 
is sometimes blue, and this colour shines through the thin walls of the spermogone. 
Hence, the ostiole has occasionally the appearance of being seated in the centre 
of a bluish-black spot or areola, as in S. argus. The envelope or capsule is of a 
pale brown cellular tissue usually; the cavity simple or sinuous, frequently the 
latter. So abundant occasionally are spermogonal warts as to constitute what 
have been described by the older authors as distinct varieties, e.g., var. stigmatea 
of S. tomentosum of FLorow. But, on the other hand, they are frequently recog- 
nisable with great difficulty, and are seldom to be met with. I have examined 
many hundred specimens of species of Stercocaulon, without having met with the 
spermogones more frequently than a few times. Sometimes the spermogones are 
terminal, and resemble nascent apothecia. The sterigmata are simple and short, 
frequently sub-spherical; the spermatia are either straight and rod-shaped or 
slightly curved. They vary in length from ath to gcth, averaging about gath 
to sth, with a breadth of smth to sath. 
Species 1. S. paschale, Fr., 
Which occurs in Europe, America, and Asia. 
Specimen 1.—Hill heaths above Bonhard, Perth, July 1855, W. L.L. The 
spermogones occur on specimens bearing no apothecia, as small brown warts, 
scattered about the ends and along the sides of the ultimate ramules. They some- 
what resemble small apothecia, are flattened, round, or irregular, with a round 
ostiole, generally of the same colour as the wart, and indistinct in its outline. The 
envelope is of a brown cellular tissue. The spermatia are rod-shaped or oblong, 
about gwth long. The sterigmata are short, simple, bulging ; sometimes resembling 
a series of papilleeform or nipple-shaped cells, at other times longer and sub-* 
digitate. 
SpEcIES 2. S. alpinum, Laur., 
Which is found in Europe and Asia, but which I regard only as a variety of the 
preceding species. 

