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LICHEN Westringii.
Speckled Coral-crusted Lichen.
CRYPT0GAM1A Algae.
- Gen. Char. M a le , sc a tte re d warts.
F em a le , sm o o th sh ield s o r tu b e rc le s , in w h ich th e
seeds a re im b ed d ed .
Spec. Char. C ru s t ta rta re o u s, b row n ish , f a p i ll a r y ,
u n e v e n , o rb ic u la r w ith a th in flat e d g e ; internally«
som ew h a t fib ro u s an d b ra n c h e d . T u b e rc le s m in u te ,
d a rk b row n , in te rn a lly re d , te rm in a tin g th e b ranches*
S yn. ^ L ic h e n W e strin g ii. Ach. Prod. 88. t. 2 . / . 2.
Isid ium W e strin g ii. Ach.Meth. 1 3 8 . Winch, v. 2 . 47."
S p e c im e n s of this curious Lichen, exhibited in our plate,
were gathered on walls in the county of Durham by the Rev.
Mr. Harriman, and communicated to us by the Rev. G. R.
Leathes. It mostly grows on micaceous rocks, and, as Mr.
Turner assures us, has been found in Ireland. Dr. Acharius
named this species after his friend Westring, its first discoverer.
It differs from corallinus, t. 1541, in being not white, but
of a dingy brown, speckled, or scorched, appearance ; neither
is it so branchy or fibrous internally, being rather solid, with
a rugged or plaited surface in many parts, while in others cylindrical
knobs rise out of the crust, and in many the latter
consists of clustered branches like corallinus. The edge is
thm, close-pressed, spreading, sometimes limited by a black
line. Numerous little round convex tubercles, red or deep dull
orange internally, terminate the branches or knobs, and sometimes
hardly rise above the crust.
We cannot well satisfy ourselves about the character of the
Acharian genus Isidium, which describes the disk of the tubercles
as a ball bearing seeds on both sides.
We believe Mr. Dickson’s L. punctatus to be not this, but
a nondescript Lecidea.