S P I L O M A murale.
Wall Spiloma.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algce.
Gen. Char. Receptacles shapeless, without a border,
powdery, in an uninterrupted crust.
Spec. Char. Crust obsolete, or white. Receptacles
very minute, black, confluent, w ith o u t bristles.
Syn. Spiloma murale. Turn, and Borr. Lich. Brit,
v. 1*' 31.
O b s e r v e d by Mr. W . Borrer, who sent it to us, upon
the plastered walls of cottages in Sussex, and by Mr. Turner
on Burgh church, Suffolk. No doubt it may be found almost
any where, by those who, with microscopic eyes, will take
the pains to scrutinize any dirty mortar. But though as common
perhaps, as it is to common observers indistinct and trifling,
it holds a place in the chain of vegetable being, and the
link it forms is accurately determined, since the genus to which
this little species belongs is now clearly understood.
The crust is so thin, and so like the mortar in whiteness,
that if it exists, as we presume must be the case at some period
or other, it is not discernible at an advanced stage of the fructification.
The receptacles form very minute black irregular
dots, with a greyish tinge, like a stain upon the mortar, and
consist of globular grains, without any hairs or bristles intermixed.
We therefore, taught by our learned friends above
cited, exclude the latter circumstance from our generic character.