The English flora - SeaweedAfrica

154 LICHENES. errucaria.
and unsatisfactory figure and description given in E. Bot. under the
name of Lichen tessellatus, and partly because Acharius had considered
the plant as a var. of the Lichen fuscellus of Turn, and E. Bot. t. 1500.
22. V. murdlis, Aeh. (ivall Verrucaria); crust indeterminate
composed of thin scattered or confluent scales between pulverulent
and tartareous pale grey, apothecia prominent nearly
globose unpolished umbilicate. Borr.—Ach. Syn. p. 95. Borr.
in E. Bot. Suppl. t. 2647. /. 2. Splmria muralis, Soiv. E.
Fungi, t. 295, upper figure.
Upon walls, chiefly on the mortar.— Allied to V. rupestris; but its scarcely
perceptible crust is less continuous and its tubercles not so deeply immersed
and less regular in figure, as well as usually larger. Mr. Borrer likewise
compares it "to a state of V. viridula when injured by insects; "but the
proper state of the surface of that plant is almost always to be traced
in some parts of the patch, and its tubercles are larger and more conical.
Still the most experienced Lichenists will not, perhaps, be the most
forward to decide whether these two productions be truly distinct
species."
23. V. epipolcea, Ach. {large-fruited Rock Verrucarici); crust
indeterminate thin tartareous somewhat powdery greyish, apothecia
large prominent mostly conical brownish-black pruinose.
Borr.—Ach. Syn. p. 285. E. Bot. t. 2647./ 3.
St. Vincent's Rocks, Bristol, Mr. Borrer. North of England, Mr.
Brunton, and the Rev. J. Harriman. Wales, Rev. H. Davis. Ireland,
Sir Thomas Gage.— This is so nearly allied to V. gemmata of the preceding
section, having equally large tubercles, that Mr. Borrer observes
it might be supposed a mere " varietas loci ;" yet its more tartareous
crust y with a powdery surface, and its rugose, brownish, less variable
tubercles afford, perhaps, constantly distinctive marks. Its larger tubercles
and continuous crust distinguish it from V. mwalis.
24. V. trachona, Ach. {green Rock Verrucarici); crust indeterminate
thin between pulveraceous and tartareous continuous
or slightly cracked greyish-green, apothecia small prominent
nearly globose pruinose at length deformed. Ach. Syn. p. 96.
Borr. in E. Bot. Suppl. t. 2647./ 1.
Slaty rocks in different parts of Ireland, Miss Hutchins and Sir T.
Gage.— " The general aspect of this Lichen is so much like L,epraria
botryoidcs, E. Bot., not Ach., (the Chlorococcum vulgare, Grev.)
that it might easily be mistaken for that plant, somewhat faded and
sprinkled with a minute parasite. Under a glass, however, the crust
is found to be thinner and more coherent than that formed by the "propagula"
of the Lepraria, and the tubercles seem really to belong to it."
25. V. maura, Ach. {Black-moor Rock Verrucarid); crust
thin continued imperfectly circumscribed coal-black smooth
with innumerable minute cracks, apothecia black immersed
swelling under the crust and marked by an umbilicated dot.
Sm.—Ach. Syn. p. 95
—
Lichen maurus, E. Bot. t. 2456.
Frequent on the Scottish coast, on a reddish porphyritic sandstone,
by the sea. First noticed at Dunbar by Mr. Borrer.
—