LA CHNOBOL US 187 



Sporangia distinct, sessile or nearly so, globose or cylindric, 

 often distorted, scattered or densely crowded, the peridium 

 extremely thin, ruptured irregularly, and persistent in frag- 

 ments ; capillitium attached at numerous points to the spo- 

 rangial wall, forming a dense net, the threads warted or 

 spinulose, non-elastic. 



Species of this genus are easily distinguished from those of 

 the next by the peculiar fragile peridium and the inelastic 

 capillitium. 



Key to the Species of Lachnobolus. 



A. Sporangia pale yellow, on fallen flowers and fruit-burs of Castanea, 



I . L. globosus 



B. Sporangia rosy or copper-colored, at length ochraceous, 



2. L. occidentals 



i. LACHNOBOLUS GLOBOSUS (Sc/iw.) Rost. 



1822. Arcyria globosa Schw., Syn. Fling. Carol., No. 400. 

 1875. Lachnobolus globosus (Schw.) Rost., Mon.j p. 283. 

 1894. Arcyria albida Pers. (in part) Lister, Myceiozoa, p. 186. 



Sporangia on the spines of fallen chestnut burs, scattered, 

 pale yellow or whitish, small, globose, the peridium early 

 evanescent above, more persistent below, stipitate ; stipe small, 

 tapering upward, from a small hypothallus ; capillitium a dense 

 but not expanding network attached chiefly to the lower por- 

 tion of the sporangial wall, minutely warted or roughened, with 

 few expansions or inflations ; spores in mass pale yellow, under 

 the lens colorless, almost smooth, 7-8 p. 



This singular little species is remarkable chiefly in the hab- 

 itat it affects, --fallen chestnut burs. On these almost univer- 

 sal, but on nothing else, except that now and then a variety, 

 var. minor Ellis, appears on the fallen catkins of the same 

 species. Regarded by Mr. Lister as A. cinerea, from which it 

 differs constantly in form, in capillitium more open and with 

 larger threads, 4-5 /u, in diameter as well as in its unique 

 habitat, and yellowish color. 



Distribution coterminous with that of Castanea sativa Mill, 

 var. americana eastern half of the United States. 



