ON THE OUTER PERIDIUM OF BROOMEIA. 311 
The synonymy of the two species 1s as follows :— 
l. DIDYMOPLEXIS PALLENS, Griff — Leucorchis sylvatica, 
Blume.—Apetalon minutum, Wight—Arethusa ecristata, Griff. 
— Epiphanes pallens, Rehb. f—Arethusa bengalensis, Herb. hort. 
bot. Calc. 
2. DipyMoPLEXIS MICRADENIA, //emsl.— Epiphanes micradenia, 
Rehb. f. 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXVIII. 
Didymoplexis pallens, Griffith. 
Fig. 1. A plant in flower, natural size. 
2. Upper portion of a plant bearing two mature capsules on elongated 
pedicels, which are longer and thicker than the whole plant at the time 
of flowering ; natural size. 
3. Front view of a flower, enlarged. 
4. Side view of a flower, enlarged. 
/ 
On the Outer Peridium of Broomeia. By Grorae Murray, 
F.L.S., Assistant, Department of Botany, British Museum, 
and Lecturer on Botany, St. George's Hospital. 
[Read February 15, 1883.] 
(PrATE XXIX.) 
THe genus Broomeia (Gasteromycetes) was founded by the 
Rev. M. J. Berkeley in 1844 (Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. vol. iii. 
p. 193); and the species B. congregata, Berk., which then alone 
represented it, is the subject of the present note. The speci- 
mens used by Mr. Berkeley were brought from the distriet of 
Albany, Cape of Good Hope, where they were found by Mr. J. 
Backhouse. They consist each of a mass of mature individuals 
congregated on a corky stroma common to the whole mass. 
These individuals possess but one peridium ; and Mr. Berkeley, 
doubtless recalling tie fact that in Geaster, the nearest ally of 
Broomeia, two peridia are present, treated the corky stroma as the 
homologue of an outer peridium. Specimens collected since then 
by Prof. MacOwan and others show precisely the same appearances. 
Another species, B. guadalupensis, Lév., was added to the genus 
by Léveillé in 1848 (Aun. Sci. Nat. 3 sér. tom. ix. p. 129). I 
have not been able to examine any specimen of this species ; but 
