210 ENDOSPOKE^E. [LYCOGALA. 



3. L. conicum Pers., Syn., i., p. 159 (1801). Plasmodium 

 rose-red, in rotten wood (teste Dr. Rex). ^Ethalia conical, sessile 

 on a broad base, crowded or scattered, 1'5 to 3 mm. high, 0'8 

 to 1'5 mm. broad, sometimes subglobose, yello w- brown ; the dark 

 confluent superficial vesicles forming spots or a broken reticula- 

 tion, chiefly on the upper part ; cortex thin, of two closely com- 

 bined layers, the outer traversed by flattened threads 2 to 10 /x 

 broad, either loosely interlacing, or more often nearly parallel 

 in a single series, and separated by intervals of 2 to 20 //,, piercing 

 the membranous inner layer and continuous with the capillitium. 

 Capillitium of simple, rarely branching, olivaceous-grey threads, 

 3 /JL diam., or varying from 2 to 7 /x, faintly and minutely wrinkled, 

 with clavate or obtuse ends. Spores, in mass, yellowish-grey or 

 ochraceous, minutely reticulated over the greater part of the 

 surface, 4 to 5 /m diam. Fries, Syst. Myc., iii., p. 82 ; Mass., 

 Mon., p. 123. Dermodium conicum Host., Mon., p. 284. 



Plate LXXVL, A. a. aathalia, x 20 ; b. part of cortex ; (1) outer 

 membranous layer, bearing on the surface irregularly shaped vesicles con- 

 taining dark granular matter, traversed by empty flattened tubes, having 

 a somewhat parallel arrangement ; (2) homogeneous inner layer, perforated 

 by the narrow capillitium tubes, x 180 ; c. part of capillitium tube, and 

 spores, x 600 (Ohio, U.S.A.). 



This description is taken from specimens received from Dr. Rex 

 under the name of Dermodium conicum^ and from Mr. Morgan under the 

 name of Lycogala conicum ; they were gathered in Fairmount Park, 

 Philadelphia, and at Preston, Ohio. They differ from L. miniatum in 

 the uniformly small size and more or less conical shape, in the scanty 

 seldom branching somewhat parallel threads in the thin outer layer 

 of the cortex, and in the almost simple threads of the capillitium : 

 very similar structure is met with, however, in minute thin-walled 

 aethalia of L. miniatum, showing the close alliance of the two species ; 

 but such small sethalia of L. miniatum are usually found in company 

 with others of more ordinary dimensions, and differ in shape and in 

 the arrangement of the warts from the American specimens. The 

 type specimen of L. nitidum Berk. & Br., from Ceylon (K. 1729), is 

 referred to by Rostafinski as being Dermodium conicum (Mon., App., 

 p. 37) ; the cortex is thin, and traversed by broad and narrow threads, 

 more interwoven than in the specimens from America ; but the sethalia 

 are hard and immature, and are valueless in the determination of 

 specific characters. 



Hab On dead wood. Philadelphia (L:B.M.173) ; Ohio, U.S.A. 

 (L:B.M.173). 



SPECIES NOT MET WITH IN THE QUOTED COLLECTIONS. 



4. L. minutum Sacc. et Paol., in Atti R. Instit. Ven. Sci., 

 ser. 6, vol. vi., p. 5. Sporangia gregarious, superficial, sessile on 

 an adnate base, globoso-depressed, yellowish-ochre coloured, 4 to 5 

 mm. diam., smooth, not punctate, at length minutely and closely 

 pitted ; hypothallus scanty, white, mucedinous ; capillitium threads 

 filiform, short, hyaline, almost simple ; spores globose, asperulate, 

 pale yellow, 3 /w, diam. 



Hab. On rotten decorticate branches. Malacca. 



