CORNICULARIA. 



127 



Genus L COENICULAEIA, ScAreb. 



Gen. Char. Thallus terete-compressed or linear-laciniate, lacu- 

 nose, everywhere of similar colour, having a cartilaginous cor- 

 tical layer ; apothecium subpedicellate, terminal or axillary. 



1. Corniculauia jubata {juba, a horse's mane) . Thallus 

 brownish or greyish, usually pendulous, terete or sub-lacu- 

 nose, dichotomously and much branched ; filaments elongated 

 and entangled, sometimes bearing whitish soredia; apo- 

 thecia brown, or of same colour with thallus. 



The following are comparatively well-marked varieties : — 



Yar. bicolor; so called from the extremities of the thai- 

 line filaments being pale-coloured ; it is fruticulose, rigid, 

 and divaricate-ramose. (E. B. 1853.) 



Var. chalybeiformis is a prostrate form, chiefly growing 

 on alpine rocks; sub-rigid and flexuose. (E. B. 1880.) 



But the most common forms, viz. vars. prolixa and cana> 

 are flaccid and filiform, much branched and entangled, and 

 pendulous from our forest-trees, especially the fir. They 

 are called, from their resemblance, u Tree or Rock Hair," 

 or the " Horse-tail Lichen." The old generic name, Alec- 

 toria, was derived from the Greek word for hair. They 

 are comparatively common in lowland and sub-alpine woods, 

 and frequently trail down the surface of trees to the length 



