NOTES AND NEWS. 



287 



45. Lecidea lactea (Flk.). On a block of stone below the Spout. 

 [Lecidea macula Tayl. ? I am doubtful of my determination 



of this plant ; but it agrees fairly well with Taylor's descrip- 

 tion, and with Nylander's description of L. perustula, which 

 is said to be a synonym of it. I have not seen authentic 

 specimens of either. Our plant occurred on a rock at the 

 foot of the Spout. It looks like a small Z. fusco-atra, and 

 would have been set down by Leighton as a meagre form of 

 his Z. nitida^ but that seems to be an aggregation of some- 

 what different things.] 



46. Lecidea fiimosa Hffm. One or two specimens on walls below 



the Spout. [New to Lune drainage-district of West York- 

 shire; F. A. Lees.] 



47. Lecidea grisella Flk. On walls of a bridge. 



48. "^Lecidea coracina Ach. On stones below the Spout. [New 



to West Riding Flora ; F. A. Lees.] 



49. ^Lecidea lavata Ach. On stones by the stream-side. [New to 



the West Riding Flora : F. A. Lees.] 



50. Lecidea alboatra var. epipolia (Ach.). On limestone in a wall 



51. ^-^Lecidea cMoroscotina Nyl. On stones in the bed of the 



Rawthey. [New to West Riding Flora ; F. A. Lees.]. 



52. Lecidea geograpMca (L.). Frequent near the Spout. 



53. Lecidea citrinella Ach. A few small specimens on earth in 



the crevices of rocks at the foot of the Spout. 



54. Endocarpon miniatum var. complicatum. On rocks at the 



Spout (W. West). 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Thanks to the enterprise of the proprietor 3f ' The Field,' and to the abihty of 

 their investigator, Dr. Klein, F. R.S., the epidemic known as the Grouse Disease 

 will soon be no longer a res incognita. Under the auspices of this well-known 

 newspaper, Dr. Klein recently visited several moors affected by the epidemic, and 

 was thus enabled to examine freshly-captured specimens of diseased birds, from 

 which alone it was possible to hope to obtain a clue to the true nature of the 

 disease. All the specimens dissected had the intestines more or less congested, 

 and the liver or kidney — and, in some cases, the lungs also — discoloured. A careful 

 microscopic examination of the blood and diseased tissues made it obvious that 

 bacteria had nothing to do with the disease. But an examination of prepared 

 sections of the liver proclaimed the existence ever)'where in the arteries and veins 

 of that organ of large numbers of corpuscles of a foreign nature and varied form, 

 each of which is believed to be a plasf}iodiu?n in an arrested phase of movement. 

 The presence of these fungi in the blood vessels of the liver, and perhaps also in 

 the vessels of the intestines, readily explains the condition of these organs in the 

 affected specimens, AVe are glad to know that further investigation is to be 

 devoted to this important discovery ; and the distribution of these minute bodies 

 in the birds, in the spore stage on the moors, and their mode of entry into the 

 bodies of the animals, is to be carefully gone into. 



Sept. 1887. 



i 



