L I C H E N dædaleus.
Fine-lobed Imbricated Lichen.
CRYPTOGAMIA Algce.
G en . C h a r . Male, scattered warts.
Female, smooth shields or tubercles, in which the
seeds are imbedded.
S p e c . Ch a r . Closely imbricated, radiated, membranous,
very smooth, brownish grey; pale, with
black fibres, beneath : its segments linear, obtuse,
undulated. Shields black, with a black border of
their own substance.
T h E only specimens we have ever seen of this Lichen, were
given us long ago by our worthy friend Mr. Menzies, who ga^
thered them in Scotland, apparently on rocks.
The fronds are closely imbricated, entangled, radiated, depressed
and uneven; their upper surface of a brownish,
somewhat glaucous, grey, peculiarly smooth, but not shining,
often blackish here and there, especially at the edges ; pale
brown or flesh-coloured and uneven beneath, and clothed
with black radicles, often quite black except at the extremities.
The segments are linear, curiously zigzag, undulated, or
crenate; obtuse, lobed, and often dilated at "the ends, closely
folded or creeping over each other; bearing several grey,
globular, powdery, marginal warts. Shields scattered over
the disk of the leaf, the size of a common pin’s head, sessile,
vesy black, with an elevated entire border of their own substance
and colour.
This species is a true Lecidea, according to the system of
Acharius, and ranks among the very few with a leafy or membranous
frond, but we cannot find any mention of it in the
works of that eminent writer. The want of an accessary
border to the shields, of the colour and substance of the
crust, is the distinctive character of a Lecidea, and readily
distinguishes this species from the numerous imbricated
Lichens, which, having such a border, are ParmeUce.