188 ENDOSPORE.E. [ARCYUIA. 



4. A. punicea Pers., in Bomer, N". Mag. Bot., i., p. 90 (1794). 

 Plasmodium white, in rotten wood. Total height 2 to 3 mm. 

 Sporangia ovoid or subcylindrical, stipitate, crowded or gregarious, 

 O9 to 1'8 mm. high, 0'8 to 1 mm. broad, crimson; cup of 

 sporangium- wall membranous, firm, shining, plaited, smooth or 

 marked with faint broken reticulations on the inner side. Stalk 

 cylindrical, 0'5 to 1 mm. high, Ol mm. thick, furrowed, red-brown, 

 filled with spore-like cells. Capillitium a regular elastic network 

 of flattened or terete red threads, 3 to 5 //, diam., with thickenings 

 in the form of prominent cogs or spines, and half -rings or rings 

 arranged in a loose spiral ; with many attachments to the cup, 

 and usually without free ends. Spores pale red, nearly smooth, 

 but with a few scattered warts, 6 to 8 /z diam. Host., Mon., 

 p. 268; Cooke, Myx. Brit., p. 69, fig. 197; Blytt, Bidr. K. Norg., 

 Sop. iii. (1892), p. 11; Macbride, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Iowa, ii., 

 p. 123; Mass., Mon., p. 142. Arcyria vernicosa Eost., Mon., 

 App., p. 36. 



Plate LXVIII., A. a. sporangia, x 20 ; b. capillitium and spore, with 

 portion of sporangium-wall, x 600 (England). 



The specimen named A. fusca Fr., in Fuckel, Fung. Rhen. 1443 

 (B. M. 708), appears to be a weathered but typical form of A. punicea; 

 if this gathering is identical with Fries's type, it confirms the opinion 

 of Rostafinski, who gives the name as a synonym for A. punicea. 



Hob. On dead wood. Common. Batheaston, Somerset (B. M. 

 254, 269); Epping Forest, Essex (L:B.M.156) ; Lyme Regis, Dorset 

 (L:B.M.156); Abbey Wood, Kent (B. M. 1153); Highgate (B. M. 

 1149) and Hampstead (B. M. 1150); Glaisdale, Yorkshire (B. M. 

 1146) ; France (B. M. 707) ; Germany (B. M. 708) ; Poland (Strassb. 

 Herb.) ; Italy (B. M. 705) ; Cape (K. 898) ; Java (K. 1715) ; Borneo 

 (L:B.M.156) ; New Zealand (K. 931) ; New York, U.S.A. (K. 908) ; 

 Iowa (B. M. 1029); S. Carolina (B. M. 982); S. Domingo (Paris 

 Herb.) ; Cuba (K. 950) ; New Granada (K. 1724) ; French Guiana 

 (Paris Herb.) ; Brazil (K. 899). 



5. A. insignis Kalchbr. & Cooke, in Grev., x., p. 143 (1882). 

 Plasmodium ? Total height 0'5 mm. Sporangia ovoid, stipitate, 

 gregarious, 0'3 mm. diam., red; cup of sporangium-wall delicately 

 membranous, plaited, spinulose. Stalk thickened upwards, 

 furrowed, 0'2 mm. long, red, filled with spores or spore-like 

 cells. Capillitium a delicate elastic network of almost colourless 

 threads, varying in width from 2 to 5 //<, flattened, with thickenings 

 in the form of faint transverse bands and short spines arranged 

 in a lax spiral, closely and minutely spinulose elsewhere. Spores 

 almost colourless, nearly smooth, 6 to 8 /JL diam. Mass., Mon., 

 p. 148. 



Plate LXVIII., A. c. sporangia, x 20 ; d. capillitium and spores, with 

 portion of sporangium-wall, x 600 (Cape). 



There are two specimens of this form in the Kew Herb., one, the 

 type, from the Cape (Kalchbrenner K. 895), and one marked "A. 

 punicea, Natal " (K. 949). They resemble a minute form of A. incarnata, 

 but the delicate capillitium attached to the cup of the sporangium- wall 

 appears to mark it as distinct. 



