NOTEWORTHY LEGIDEACEAE FROM KNOX COUNTY, MAINE 



G. K. Merrill 



The Lichens mentioned in this hst, with one exception, were collected within 

 ten miles of the City of Rockland. The determinations are based on careful 

 microscopical examinations of the so-called fructification, and comparison with 

 authentic specimens from European sources. Descriptions are given for those 

 forms believed to be new to North America or the United States, and for others 

 so far undescribed in any of our publications. 



BiATORA COARCTATA var. ORNATA (Sommerf.) Th. Fr. Lich. Arctoi p. 190. (i860.) 



Thallus indeterminate in our specimens, sordid gray, verruculose, marked 

 .at the circumference by sub-effigurate, irregularly-crenate squamaceous exten- 

 sions. Apothecia small, concave or at length convex, the disk reddish-brown, 

 with a rather tumid lighter colored margin. Spores 8, ellipsoid, simple, 22-27 

 X 12 in ventricose asci amidst distinct but slender paraphyses. 



On slaty-schist, Mt. Megunticook, Camden. I know of no other record 

 for the United States. 



BiATORA ULiGiNOSA var. FULiGiNEA (Ach.) Fr. Lich. Eur. Ref. p. 275. (1831.) 

 On decaying logs; Warren. 



This is a lignicoline condition of B. uliginosa, and, quoting from Fries, 

 ''crusto cum hypothallo confusa leprosa-granulosa f usco-nigrescens " exactly 

 describes the thallus. There is little in the apothecia or spores to distinguish 

 the variety from the species. The apothecia are more scattered and lighter in 

 color, and the spores are said to be smaller, but my experience fails to verify 

 the latter. Hypothallus blackish rather than black. 



Dr. Fink found the plant in Minnesota on an old Polyporus, and it is re- 

 ported from Newfoundland in Macoun's list of Canadian Lichens. 

 Biatora dilutiuscula (Nyl.) comb. nov. 



Lecidea dilutiuscula Nyl. Flora 1876, p. 308. 



Thallus effuse, continuous, smooth, grayish. Apothecia small, sessile, 

 the disk plane with a thin concolorous margin, or convex and immarginate, 

 waxy, livid, or yellowish-flesh colored. Spores 8, ellipsoid, hyaline, 7-10 x 3.5- 

 4.5 IX, wholly without color internally. 



On rocks in che bed of a roadside rivulet, associated with Lecidea contigua 

 hydrophila and other species, Camden. 



Nylander in Lich. Env. Paris, p. 93, gives Biatora Bauschiana Koerb. as 

 a synonym, and in Leighton's Mon. British Lich. Pt. II, p. 98, the var. infidula 

 of Lecidea sylvicola is made equivalent. Our plant is not in agreement with either, 

 but is entirely in accord with European examples of the species from France 

 and Austria. So far as macroscopic examination permits judgment, the apothecia 

 •of all the species associated with our plant arise from the same thallus. 



Unreported previously from America. 

 Biatora atrorubens (Fr.) Merl. Lich. Exs. No. 206. (191 1.) 



Lecidea parasema forma atrorubens (Fr.) Arn. Exs. No. 230. 



Thallus small (-3 cm.) effuse, minutely granulose, ashy or ashy-green. 



