PARMELIA. 



199 



P. saxatilis has a wide geographical range, occurring in 

 Spitzbergen and other Arctic islands ; in Cockburn's Island, 

 Graham's Land, and other parts of the Antarctic regions ; 

 on the Mexican Andes, and many districts of temperate and 

 Arctic North America ; in Brazil, Chili, and other parts of 

 South America ; in the Mauritius, and similar warm islands 

 and countries. In northern and mid-Europe it is very abun- 

 dant. It has been for ages used by the peasantry of Scan- 

 dinavia, Scotland, and other countries of northern Europe, 

 to yield a brownish or brownish-red dye for thread, yarn, 

 stockings, nightcaps, and similar goods of home manufacture. 

 In Scotland it is one of the most familiar " crottles," and is 

 also known under the name of " Stane-raw," or " Staney- 

 rag." Not only do the peasantry use it in the way we have 

 mentioned, but it would appear, upon the evidence of the 

 Border ballads, that the Border fairies were sometimes ha- 

 bited in tunics dyed with this Lichen. " Like the feld- elfin 

 of the Saxons, the usual dress of the fairies is green ; though 

 on the moors they have been sometimes observed in heath- 

 brown, or in weeds dyed with Stone-raw or Lichen/' (Min- 

 strelsy of the Scottish Borders, vol. ii. p. 310.) In Shet- 

 land this Lichen, in common with the dye prepared from it, 

 is called " Scrottyie " it is there found common on argilla- 



