164 



POPULAR HISTORY OF LICHENS. 



spores of Solorina or Sticta. Its geographical range is not 

 wide : in Europe it is bounded by Lapland on the north 

 and Switzerland on the south ; it occurs in various parts 

 of North America .; and in the Antarctic regions only in 

 Kerguelen's Land. 



2. Peltigera aphthosa {aphthae, a disease of the mouth 

 in children). Thallus prostrate, smooth, besprinkled with 

 darkish w T arts, apple-green above, — below white, reticulated 

 with blackish veins, fibrillose or spongiose; lobes large, 

 rounded ; apothecium chestnut-coloured, vertically affixed to 

 the produced and ascending lobules, becoming elongated, 

 with re volute margins. 



A large and handsome species, growing in moist localities 

 among rocks and moss, and on mossy trees, chiefly in sub- 

 alpine districts ; it is not very common in Britain, but 

 occurs in Breadalbane and other Highland districts, in the 

 neighbourhood of the Palls of Clyde, and in similar localities. 

 In geographical range it extends northward to the Arctic 

 regions, where it represents P. canina ; but does not occur 

 in the Antarctic regions. Its name is derived from its 

 having been boiled in milk by the Swedes, and given to 

 their children for the disease termed aphtha, or " thrush." 

 It has been said to possess purgative, vermifuge, and 



